The Hope a Stranger Gives
by FearlessRabbit
Summary: A mysterious package on his doorstep in 1987 is all that it takes to give hope to a timid young boy named Harry Potter. The knowledge inside changes Harry, causing him to be much more confident, studious, ambitious, and hopeful. Without outside influence, Harry will take the path that will make him great. Includes Years 1&2
1. Chapter 1

_**AN: This is an edited, updated, and frankly much better version of the original first chapter. I added some new things that set up storylines in the future and used the new POV to show Harry's personality far better than I did originally.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters, places, or ideas. That all belongs to JK Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, well… Let's just say that 'Albus Severus Potter' wouldn't exist.**_

The Hope a Stranger Gives

Chapter 1: The Legend Begins

October 31st, 1981

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have

Thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…" These were the words that were stuck in the man known as Lord Voldemort's head as he sauntered towards the Potter's house in Godric's Hollow.

His servant Severus Snape had overheard part of a dreaded prophecy that foretold of someone powerful enough to defeat him. Shaking his head at the thought, Voldemort almost laughed at image of a kid defeating him in battle.

There were two different babies that fit the profile of the prophecy, Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter. Voldemort decided that being a half blood made the Potter boy an obvious choice for the position of arch nemesis. After figuring out who he wanted to kill, all that was left was finding the Potters.

He had taken his most loyal followers, Bellatrix Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov, and they marched on Potter Manor where he had suspected the boy to be. All they found was Charlus and Dorea Potter who didn't even give a hint to where the other Potters were. After Antonin killed Charlus in a duel and Bellatrix killed Dorea, they razed the grand manor to the ground with Fiendfyre and left the dark mark hanging over the Potter's ancestral home.

He then sent Dolohov to kill Fleamont and Euphemia Potter who lived on the Isle of Man. The youngest Potter wasn't there but Voldemort figured that if they were going to hide from him, they would lose all of their family as well.

After capturing an Auror and torturing him until he was ready to speak, Voldemort found out that the Potters were hiding out somewhere under a fidelius charm. The man needlessly explained that the only way he would find them was if the secret keeper willingly told him and that SIrius Black would never betray the Potters.

Luckily, he had a spy among Dumbledore's so called "Order of the Phoenix" that just so happened to be one of James Potter's best friends. All it took was a faux assassination attempt on Sirius Black and whispers of more werewolves joining up with the death eaters and Peter Pettigrew became the new secret keeper.

With the knowledge of where his greatest adversary was hiding, Voldemort immediately set off to the birthplace of Godric Gryffindor. If the rumors were true, the Potters were the closest living descendants of the Gryffindor family.

Frowning, the Dark Lord realised that if anyone could hope to stand against him, the heir of Slytherin, it would be the heir of Gryffindor. If the boy grew into a man, he may find a wizard far more willing to fight than Dumbledore.

While he found the idea of anyone defeating him laughable, Tom Riddle would not let anyone threaten his dream of a new world order with him as it's sole ruler. Everyone would bow to him, including the purebloods that once thought him a muggleborn. No one would be his equal, because he is the greatest wizard to ever live.

Approaching the door, the Dark Lord breathed in the smells as he revelled in the moment. 'After I kill Harry Potter, no one will be able to oppose me. NO ONE!"

With that final shout, Voldemort threw a powerful blasting curse at the front door, throwing it off of its hinges and onto the floor. "Lily, take Harry and run! Go!"

A flash of red hair dashed up the flight of stairs as a familiar foe stood in front of Tom Riddle. James Potter, a man that had somehow managed to escape from him twice after denying an offer of joining his death eaters. Voldemort was very much aware of how rich the Potters were and wanted that money to be backing him and his army. When James had denied him and wasn't cowed by threats, Voldemort personally tried to kill him and his wife but there was always some crazy coincidence that allowed the young couple to escape.

"Not tonight," Tom thought to himself as he effortlessly dodged a stunner and threw a killing curse that killed James immediately. Standing for just a couple of seconds to enjoy the feeling of victory, Voldemort turned towards the stairs and stalked towards the last two Potters.

While originally planning to kill every last Potter, Tom decided that he would try to honor his promise to Severus Snape and keep the girl alive. If the girl defied his orders again though, she would become fair game.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Voldemort checked every room until he was standing in front of the last door. Blasting it open, Voldemort stepped inside to see Lily Potter standing in front of a crib that held Harry Potter.

"Stand aside girl, only one of you need to die tonight!" The mother vigorously shook her head in denial and screamed, "Please kill me instead! Not Harry, please not Harry!" Growling, Voldemort took a menacing step forward and ordered her to move aside once more. When Lily Potter refused again, a killing curse took her life as well.

Watching her body drop, Voldemort shook his head as he figured that Snape may become disillusioned with the death eaters due to the broken promise. Brushing the thought away, the Dark Lord stepped towards the crib and looked into the green eyes of Harry Potter.

Raising his wand to the boy's forehead, Tom noted that the last Potter had the same eye color as the curse that would take his life. With a gleeful expression on his face, Voldemort shouted "Avada Kedavra" and three things happened after the lethal words left the Dark Lord's mouth.

A circle of runes appeared around Harry's crib, erecting an ethereal shield that split the power of the killing curse, sending half towards the caster and the other half to the intended victim.

After Voldemort was struck with his own curse, his fragile soul separated from his corpse and a piece of it split off from the main body to latch onto the last living being in the room.

As Voldemort's body dropped to the floor, it evaporated into nothingness and only his robes and wand were left remaining.

After all was said and done, only one person remained alive in the now quiet house. A dark haired baby with green eyes sat in his crib, cheeks wet from tears and forehead dripping with blood. While the curse usually kills its targets, the only evidence that the boy had been struck with the spell that took all of his family was the strange lightning bolt shaped scar that sat above his brow.

With an eerie silence, the legend of the boy-who-lived began.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

December 21st, 1987. The winter solstice, Harry Potter noted while staring at the calendar stuck to the fridge. Opening the fridge, Harry took one of his cousin Dudley's fudgesicles and quickly closed it. Normally the charcoal haired and emerald-eyed boy wasn't allowed to have sweets, but since he woke up to find his relatives gone, he figured that he would treat himself.

His uncle, Vernon Dursley, had the holidays off from work and that the whole family would go to visit Vernon's equally rotund sister, Marge. The whole family excluding Harry, of course. Two years ago, this would've made Harry cry and wonder why the Dursleys hated him. The older that Harry got and the more abuse that he suffered from his 'family', the less he cared to take part in their outings.

But he was still a seven year old kid and deep down, he did wish for at least his aunt by blood to love him. Sadly, Petunia Dursley did not love Harry Potter for in him she saw what took her sister from her all of those years ago. Harry was far too young to understand this though, so she never bothered telling him.

Making his way over to the couch and turning on the television, Harry plopped down and started watching 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'. Humming to the song 'Linus and Lucy', Harry was startled by the sound of someone knocking on the door.

Grabbing a stool from the kitchen, Harry dragged it over to the front door so that he could use the peephole to see who it was before opening the door. Seeing that no one was there confused the young boy immensely.

Opening the door revealed that the only thing there was a cardboard box with the words "To Harry Potter" written on it's side. Taking one last look around to make sure that it wasn't a prank of some sort, Harry proceeds to drag the box into the house before closing and locking the door. He then pushed the box over to the couch before opening it and finding a multitude of books and a photo album. He also discovered a note that reads:

 _Harry, I have no idea how I am supposed to say this, so I will just tell you the truth. My name is Remus Lupin and I was one of your father's best friends. As strange as it seems, I was going for a walk when I felt something staring at me. When I turned around, I saw a stag and that led me to think of James which in turn caused me to think of you._

 _If you are wondering why I have never contacted you before, it's simply because I have only just figured out where you live. I did ask about you, shortly after your parents were… you know.. Lily would have never wanted you to live with her sister and that husband of hers but for some reason, that is where you have been kept._

 _I figured that those ignorant muggles wouldn't have told you about your heritage, so I have taken it upon myself to show you some of it. Included in this box are copies of all of the photographs that I have of your parents. There are also a number of books that you will need to study. Being that you were raised by Petunia and her lot, you may not believe everything that you read at first but I implore you to think for yourself. Has nothing strange ever happened around you? When you were angry or afraid, something would happen that seemed like magic? That's what this is._

 _On the last week of May in 1991, you will receive a letter from a place called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is where James and I met and it is also where we met Lily as well. Make sure that you get the mail first and when you see the letter, hide it and read it when you are alone._

 _In this box, you will find a small bag filled with ten gold coins called galleons. This is the currency of the magical world and you are to keep it until June 1st of 1991. On that day, you are to leave a note stating that you went to Diagon Alley. Say nothing else and take the gold and walk until you are away from muggle eyes. When you are alone, focus on your magic and call the Knight Bus to you and ask the driver to take you to The Leaky Cauldron. Once inside, ask Tom the Barman to let you into Diagon Alley._

 _You will find that you are extremely famous in our world, and if someone sees your scar they will recognize you. If anyone hears your name, they will recognize you. Your full name is Hadrian James Potter, very few people know that your real name is Hadrian so I would advise you to use that. Also, your mother's maiden name was Evans. Use that as your last name._

 _Goodbye Harry, we shall meet each other soon enough. I urge you to think for yourself, there will be a lot of people wanting to use you for their own gain. Make sure not to make enemies with the wrong people. Your name and legend give you enough already._

 _Much love,_

 _Remus Lupin_

Finished with the note, Harry placed it on the coffee table beside him and thought over what this 'Remus Lupin' told him.

"Magic is real? Uncle Vernon said that magic wasn't real though. But if it were real would he even tell me?" When Harry realised that he was speaking to himself, he quieted down and looked back into the box and saw a book labeled 'Heritage: James and Lily Potter Photo Album'.

Tentatively opening to the first page, Harry saw a beautiful red-headed woman with sparkling emerald eyes. To his surprise, the picture started to move his eyes widened as the beautiful girl smiled at him and waved. Tears fell down the boy's face as he laid his eyes upon Lily Potter for the first time in over six years.

Looking at the next page, the last Potter was greeted by a man smirking lopsidedly into the camera with a hand going through his unruly dark hair. The man looked like the spitting image of Harry but with dark brown eyes instead of glowing green ones.

Eager to see more of the family that he never knew, he flicked to the next page and saw James' arm wrapped around Lily as they sat on a couch and giggled over an unknown joke. Telling each other stories that Harry would never get to hear.

After a couple of hours of watching each picture attentively, Harry gently closed the photo album and placed it next to the note on the coffee table.

Grabbing a book from the box, Harry frowned at the title and reread it multiple times to make sure that it wasn't a joke book or something of the like. After the sixth time reading the title, Harry decided to study 'And Stay Down: A Warlock's Guide to Curses, Hexes, and Jinxes' at a later date.

Examining the box, Harry noticed that all of the books seemed to follow the theme of magic. At that point, Harry decided that this was either the real deal or the most elaborate prank ever pulled in history.

After a quick headcount, Harry found out that there were seventeen books. These books weren't 'Cat in the Hat' length either, they were huge. Harry made a mental list of all of the books to decide which one he would read first.

 _Transfiguration: An Introduction_

 _Charms For The Common Wizard_

 _The Standard Book of Spells Volumes 1-3_

 _Magical Theory_

 _Spellman's Syllabary_

 _Numerology and Grammatica_

 _Pureblood Customs_

 _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_

 _The Last Stand: An Impractical Guide to Practical DADA_

 _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_

 _History Redacted: The Truth About the Goblin Wars_

 _Hogwarts, A History_

 _Magical Drafts and Potions_

 _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_

Deciding that 'Magical Theory' was the best place to start, Harry picked the book up and began his journey into becoming a wizard.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

Over the next three years and four months, Harry studied vigorously. He continued with his chores and schoolwork but as more time went on, the more disillusioned he became with everything mundane.

The book 'Magical Theory' vastly improved Harry's life as it gave him an understanding of the logic of Transfiguration, Charms, Occlumency, Legilimency, and Apparition. The boy had even managed to apparate once while running from Dudley and his gang.

The boys had chased the last Potter until he ran into an alley with a dead end. Harry hid behind the dumpster and then focused on disappearing and reappearing onto the roof of the building next to him. With a mischievous smile, Harry watched as Dudley and his goons tried to figure out where he had gone before quickly apparating back to his cupboard.

In the book 'Magical Theory', there was a whole chapter on wandless magic and how it worked. Most wizards couldn't do any wandless magic but Harry quickly found out that he wasn't one of them.

If Harry concentrated hard enough, he could do some of the spells in the book without a wand but they weren't anything too special. Once before, he had caused a table to float when Dudley touched it and drew the Dursley's attention to it by saying "Wow, Dudley! It's like you're magic!" After that, Vernon and Petunia grounded Dudley for the rest of the week.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

 ****May 28th, 1991. Harry smiled when he woke up that day because he just knew that his Hogwarts letter was coming today. He got out of bed and grabbed his pouch of galleons that he had kept underneath his bed for the last three years and tucked it into his large pockets.

"Boy, get out here and make breakfast," Vernon called from the living room. After making breakfast, Harry made sure to hang around the table so that he could get the post when it arrived. When the sound of mail sliding through the hatch and dropping to the floor was heard, Harry tried to seem unaffected by the casual occurrence.

"Dudley, get the mail." Said boy grimaced at the thought of not stuffing his facing for long enough to get the mail and replied "Make Harry get it." Vernon continued to look at his newspaper and without missing a beat ordered Harry to get the mail. With a sigh to seem unpleased with the order, Harry trudged to the front door.

Finding the Hogwarts letter and pocketing it immediately, the green-eyed boy made his way back to the table. On his way there, the young wizard decided that Remus' way would cause far more trouble for him in the end so he chose to just appeal to Vernon's wishes for Harry to leave his family alone.

Arriving at the table, Harry handed Vernon all of the mail except for his Hogwarts letter. After checking through the mail multiple times, Vernon happily asked "Is this all?" All too happy to burst his uncle's bubble, Harry replied "Not exactly," while pulling the Hogwarts letter from his pocket and dropping it on the table.

Vernon's face paled considerably and paled even more so when Harry continued with "My parents' old school sent me this." At that point, Petunia joined the conversation and spluttered out "How did you learn of this?"

"When you guys left me alone for the holidays in 1987, a letter arrived explaining everything." Vernon's eyes started to bulge as his skin turned puce as he remembered that it was him that wanted to visit Marge at her house instead of having her over to theirs like usual. "I'll not pay for you to learn magic!"

"You don't have to." Petunia started to glare hatefully at her nephew and spat out "Liar, I remember when Lily went to that school. It was expensive but our parents sent her anyway, even though I had to attend public school."

Rolling his eyes at her obvious display of jealousy, Harry continued with 'You don't have to because my father paid for all seven years of my tuition the moment that I displayed magical talent." Ignoring the scoff that Petunia gave at the word talent, Harry turned towards Vernon as he knew that he would make the final decision anyway.

"I'd be gone for nine months out of the year at the least and I won't come back for yule or easter. Also, in the magical world, I will be declared an adult at seventeen instead of eighteen like it is here. That means that I will be out of your hair for good sooner rather than later."

"What about your course books? I'm not paying for those." Sighing at the man's stubbornness, Harry replied "That's not your concern, I'll pay for it. Somehow."

"Fine. I'll drive you to wherever you need to go but you'll have to find your own way back." Vernon smirked, thinking that he had won but those thoughts were quickly erased when Harry turned heel and said "Sure, I'll be waiting in the car."

Once in the car, Harry mutters a shrinking charm that resizes Dudley's clothes to fit him perfectly and then uses a cleaning charm to give the clothes their faded color back. The charm won't last more than four or five hours and the clothes will be ruined for good afterwards but Harry planned on buying new clothes in Diagon Alley.

Grumbling as he opened the door to the car, Vernon got in and turned in his seat to stare at his nephew. "You will not say a word this entire trip. We will not stop for bathroom breaks and you will sit still back there. Got it?"

After receiving a nod and an innocent smile in response, Vernon turned back around and muttered about "Freaks ruining his normal day."

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

"Where is it? I don't see anything," Vernon announces as they arrived on the street that held the Leaky Cauldron. "It's charmed, only magical people can see it." Harry explained before looking around the street and finding it between two muggle stores.

"I see it," Harry proclaimed as he unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the Ford Sierra. "I'll be back at the house in three or four hours." Giving a grunt of dismissal, Vernon pulls away and drives back towards Surrey.

Walking into the pub, Harry made sure to cover his scar before walking up to Tom the Barman. "Hello sir, if it is not too much of a bother I would like to be let into Diagon Alley." Tom looked at Harry before searching the pub and then looked back at the dark-haired child. "Where are your parents?"

Harry let a hurt expression cross his face and a tear to come to his eye before he dropped his gaze to his shoes and whispered, "They're dead sir."

"Oh, sorry kid. Of course I'll let you through. Right this way." Tom led Harry into the alley behind the bar and up to a brick wall. "Now watch carefully. You want to tap the bricks exactly like I am doing." After he finished tapping each brick, the wall opened up and Harry saw an area bustling in activity with plenty of people walking joyfully around getting their shopping done.

Seeing the look on the kid's face, Tom laughed and patted him on the shoulder, "Welcome to Diagon Alley. Enjoy your stay."


	2. Chapter 2

_**I am amazed at how many people liked the first chapter, thank you! For some reason, stuff like Italics didn't save. Remus' letter was supposed to be in italics and it wasn't.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters, places, or ideas. That all belongs to JK Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, well… Let's just say that Hermione wouldn't have settled for Ron.**_

The Hope a Stranger Gives

Chapter 2: Brave New World

May 28th 1991

"Welcome to Diagon Alley. Enjoy your stay." As Tom walked back into the pub, I take another sweeping glance of the amazing Alley. I see families sitting at tables in front of a store called 'Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor' laughing and talking with each other, a group of kids standing in front of a store named 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' staring at something called a Nimbus 2000. As cool as everything looks, I can't buy anything without money and I only have ten galleons. That can buy me a wand, maybe I should head to Ollivander's first and then go to Gringotts.

Walking towards the famous wand shop, I take a moment to reign in my excitement. It wouldn't do well to look like an excitable Muggleborn firstie because most people in the Alley today are Purebloods or Halfbloods because it's easier for a magical family to get to the Alley this fast after receiving a letter.

Opening the door to Ollivander's, I notice that a family is already inside. There is a man about 1.83 metres tall with black hair and blue eyes that I notice when he turns to look at me after the entrance bell on the door rings. He is standing next to a woman that appears to be 1.7 metres tall with blonde hair and brown eyes. They have two children with them, a girl that appears to be my age with golden blonde hair and cerulean blue eyes. There is also a girl that seems to be around eight or nine years old with black hair and brown eyes.

I give a two fingered salute before walking off to the side and waiting for my turn. The woman seems amused while the man's eyes narrow before they all turn back towards the counter. An older man comes to the counter and starts to talk to the family of four before looking at me, "Mr. Potter? I have been wondering when you would come in here. You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

At this point, the family turns back towards me with their eyes comically widened as they realized who I am. "Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wan. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it, but it's really the wand that chooses the wizard.

"I'll be right with you in a moment Mr. Potter, this young lady is a tricky customer. I have had quite a few of those today actually." He turns towards the blonde girl and hands her a wand. "Nine inches and swishy. Elmwood and dragon heartstring. Perfect for the… Darker arts." The girl picks up the wand and gives it a flick and green sparks shoot out of the tip.

Ollivander seems excited as the girl finds her wand and the father claps with a smile on his face. "Good, that will be seven galleons. For an extra galleon, I will give you an Auror approved wand holster." The man hands over eight gold coins and Ollivander pulls out a leather holster that he straps to the girl's left arm, "Now give your wrist a flick and the wand will pop into your hand. Good, this holster has an anti-summoning charm on it so no one will be able to take your wand from you while it is in the holster.

"Have a great day, Lord Greengrass. I'll be seeing you soon, Astoria," with a final wave the family left the shop and I walked up to the counter. "Now, Mr. Potter, what wand shall choose you?"

After having every inch of my body measured from my arms and legs to my nose and ears. I tested more than a dozen wands and none of them working properly (the last one caused a vase to explode), Ollivander gained a thoughtful look on his face. "I wonder," He goes to the back of the shop and pulls out another thin box before setting it on the counter in front of me. "Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

I take the wand and feel a rush of power, my magic finally has something to channel itself through. I give the wand a flick and green and silver sparks shoot out of the tip. "Curious, very curious," Sharply looking up at the wand maker, I ask what's curious. "The phoenix that gave this wand it's feather, gave another. Just one. The other wand belonged to the man that gave you this," He explains while pointing at my scar.

"Vold-" Before the name can even come out of my mouth, Ollivander snaps, "We do not speak his name! But, I think we can expect great things from you, Mr. Potter, for You-Know-Who did great, very terrible, but great things." I stare at the wand a bit before looking back up at Ollivander, "How much? I want one of those holsters as well." He smiles at me before retrieving a holster from under the counter and strapping it to my right arm, "Eight galleons, Mr. Potter." I put the wand in my holster after handing him eight galleons. "Have a great day, Mr. Potter," He bows slightly and I bow back before exiting the shop.

Two galleons left. Not much, but instead of heading straight for Gringotts, I should get fitted for my robes and then go to Gringotts.

I walk into the shop, Madam Malkin's, where I see a brown skinned boy my age getting his robes fitted. "Hogwarts, dear?" An older lady asks me but before I can reply she opens her mouth again and says "Come with me." I follow her deeper into the store, where she points at a box and has me stand on it. The brown skinned boy looks at me and says, "The name's Blaise. Who might you be?" I start to say Hadrian like Remus told me to, but I decide that I don't like how old and pompous that makes me sound. Sounds like the name of some European millionaire aristocrat. "Harry, nice to meet you."

He nods before turning back towards the front of the shop, where a beautiful dark skinned lady that must be Blaise's mother stands. She raises an eyebrow at me before smiling and leaving the shop with Blaise. Well, there goes another person that recognizes me.

The woman that greeted me at the door returns with a piece of parchment and a quill. "Do you want the exact amount of stuff you need or do you prefer more?" Three robes? They want us to wear three robes for the whole year? "I'd like seven sets of plain robes: three black, two dark blue, and two more emerald green. I'd like three cloaks in matching colors as well. Do I buy shoes from here or is there a different place that I need to go?" After writing all that I said down, she looks up at me and says "We make shoes as well. I assume you want matching colors?" I nod my head in the affirmative, "Yes ma'am. Seven pairs in each color, please." She starts to write it down before looking back up at me with a questioning gaze.

"Are your parents okay with you buying all of this? This will be quite expensive." I raise an eyebrow, intentionally parting my hair and showing my scar, "They're pretty indifferent about it. But I assure you, I can afford it." She starts to blink a mile a minute before nodding her head and writing it down. "Alright, Mr. Potter, This will be ready in about an hour and thirty minutes."

I nod my head before leaving the shop and walking straight into Gringotts. I walk up to the first teller that I see open, and wait for him to notice me. "Yes, young one?" He says in an annoyed tone after about five minutes of him writing something down. "I need access to my vaults. I would also like to speak to my family's account manager." The goblin looks down at me and narrows his eyes, "And who might you be?" I show my scar and say "Harry Potter."

To my surprise, he rolls his eyes and says "The scar doesn't mean anything. I've had three Harry Potter's come up to me today alone and we only opened two hours ago. You'll have to prove it just like everyone else." Feeling a slight bit of anger at having people try to get into my family vaults, I huff out a "Fine, what do I need to do?"

He reaches under his desk before pulling out a blank piece of yellowed parchment and a dagger. "Poke your finger with the knife and let seven drops of blood hit the parchment. I warn you, the people who ended up not being Harry Potter are still in our dungeons." I let out a slight laugh at the thought of the thieves getting their comeuppance before poking my left index finger with the blade.

After seven drops of blood hit the parchment my cut heals and words start to appear on the page.

Hadrian "Harry" James Potter

Sole Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter

Trust Vault: 150,000 Galleons

Family Vault: 16,050,750 Galleons

Heirloom Vault: 3,250,000 Galleons worth of treasure

Heir Apparent to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black

Trust Vault: 100,000 Galleons

Family Vault: 4,075,000 Galleons

Heirloom Vault: 6,300,000 Galleons worth of treasure

The words stayed on the page for a minute before disappearing. "Well everything looks in order, do you have a key or do you require a new one for the small fee of a galleon?" I hand out my last two galleons while saying "Make sure that the other keys are made null and void. Do not give anyone else a key, no matter who they are." The goblin nods before asking for a goblin named Griphook to take me down to my trust vault.

"Before I go, may I ask why the Potter's have so much more money than the Blacks?" I ask while trying to wrap my head around the amount of money. I mean, I knew that my family was rich but that was way more than I expected. Especially since a single galleon is worth seven pounds. "The Potter's are the richest family in England for a number of reasons. One major one is that they are on of the few magical families that do business with muggles. Another reason is that they tend to make much more money than they spend, while most other families are the complete opposite."

I nod and with a thank you, I leave and enter the cart that reminds me of a muggle rollercoaster. After getting out of the cart, the goblin has me hold the lantern that he was carrying before saying "Key please," and then I have to cut my hand again while he uses the key to let me in. "In you go, take your time." I nod my thanks before walking inside.

In the middle of the floor is a massive pile of galleons, way too much to just carry around. "Do I have to come to Gringotts every time that I need money?" The goblin shakes his head and pulls out a small leather sack, "Drip more of your blood into the sack and it will be tied to your trust vault. It has a never ending charm on it that lets you pull out money straight from this vault." More blood magic, great. "You goblins are a bit obsessed with blood, aren't you?" He just gives a sinister smirk and replies "Blood and gold, Mr. Potter."

I laugh and shake my head as I drip more of my blood into the small sack. After three drops, an emblem of a griffin holding a sword appeared on the front. I take the sack before handing the goblin a galleon for his help. I walk over to a table at the side of my vault and see a single letter addressed to me. I pick up the letter and try to open it but it won't open. I flip the letter around and on the back of the envelope says 'To open on your thirteenth birthday'. "I guess that I will come back in two years," I whisper to myself.

I look around and see that this is all that there is in my vault, a single letter that I can't open right now and more money than I care for. "Am I allowed entrance in my family heirloom vault?" I ask Griphook as I exit my trust vault. "No, that has been restricted until you turn seventeen. The family vault can only be opened once you become a legal adult. So if you were to be emancipated, you would be able to open it. You can only be emancipated once you turn thirteen though."

I let out a small huff of annoyance as we get back into the cart. Wizards and the number thirteen. It's so stereotypical that it isn't even funny.

I thank Griphook once more before exiting the ivory bank. Checking my mechanical wrist watch, I see that I still have about twenty minutes before I need to go back to Madam Malkin's. "I should pick up my books."

Which books do I need? Remus sent me all seven volumes of the Standard Book. Fantastic Beasts? Check. The Dark Forces? I loved that book. One Thousand Magical Herbs, check that off. Magical Draughts and Potions. Already have that. Magical Theory was the first magical book that I read. So I only need 'A History of Magic' and 'A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration'.

I've already read a Transfiguration book but I guess that I will have to read this one as well. But if Remus sent me 'From Beginner to Master', the one that I have to buy now is probably not as good.

I enter the bookstore, Flourish & Blotts, to see the same blonde girl from before walking around the store. Maybe I should walk up to her and meet her? Having a friend before school even starts would be cool. I start to head towards the girl but a man steps in front of me with a beaming smile on his face, "Hogwarts, young man?" I nod my head and the man starts to lead me around the store. "You're lucky that you came so early. The Alley becomes crazy in July with all of the new witches and wizards that come to buy their equipment. I assume you're a Pureblood or Halfblood?" I pick up a copy of 'A History of Magic' before looking at him and saying "Half sir, my father was a Pureblood and my mum was Muggleborn."

He nods his head before his eyes dart to my forehead, "Yes, James Potter. I remember when he came in here, your grandfather, Charlus, brought him here when he was nine and had him read all of his first-year books. Is that why you're only buying two? You've read everything else?" I politely nod my head while explaining "I've been reading the books since I was eight."

"Keeping with tradition, I see. Well I don't want to keep ya, just place your books on the counter and I will ring you up." I place the two books on the counter and he looks at the titles before saying "Nineteen sickles please." I hand him a single galleon and he hands me eight sickles back. "Please come back whenever you need a book." I give a small smile before looking around for the blonde girl. I don't see her anywhere and I hope that I may meet her on the Express.

I pull out my wand and shrink my books down so that they'll fit in my pocket. After putting them in my pocket, I walk to Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment and find a black charmed trunk that has the inside expanded to carry even more items. It also has a featherweight charm on it that makes sure that it never weighs more than five pounds.

After buying my telescope, brass scales, crystal phials, and a cauldron, I organize my trunk's five compartments. One is used for books, so I enlarge and then store my two books in there. Another is for potion supplies, I place my cauldron, scales, and phials in there. The telescope went into a miscellaneous compartment. After spending two galleons and six sickles on everything there, I finally walked back to Madam Malkin's with five seconds to spare.

"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, your clothes are ready. Please follow me." I follow her to a counter at the front of the store and she places all of my clothes in front of me. "Should I shrink them down or do you have a trunk yet?" I pull my trunk out of my pocket and place it on the counter before enlarging it. "Fifteen galleons please." I nod, pull out the required money and I start to pack my clothes in the trunk before shrinking it again.

Now I just need to buy an owl to send my letter with. I saunter over to Eeylop's Owl Emporium and open the door. Immediately upon entering, I notice a beautiful pure white owl. I walk up to the owl in the cage, and see that she costs only five galleons. Looking towards the cashier at the front, I call out for help. When the cashier arrived, I pointed at the snowy owl and said: "I want her." The lady nodded before lifting the cage and taking it to the front before placing the cage on the counter. I handed the lady seven galleons. That was five for the owl (who I named Hedwig), one for the cage, and one more for five bags of owl treats.

Once outside, I sit at a table at Florean Fortescue's and order a chocolate ice cream with nuts. While waiting for my order, I pull out some parchment and write my confirmation of attendance. Once done, I hand the letter to Hedwig after giving her some treats for the journey. Finished with my ice cream, I look around the Alley to make sure that I hadn't forgotten anything. I notice that I need more quills and ink because I only have the amount that I brought with me from home. I'm running out of the ink that Remus gave me years ago.

A quick trip back to Wiseacre's fixes that problem, but I still don't want to leave just yet so I walk around the Alley for a bit. During my little time wasting session, I looked around at the Quidditch store where I decided that I would try out for my house team next year.

I walk back to the Leaky Cauldron ahead of going to Muggle London. I look around the street to make sure that I can't be seen while calling for the Knight Bus. Once assured that no muggles will see me, I pull out my wand and call for the Knight Bus. With a pop, a three storied purple bus appears on the road in front of me.

The doors open and I walk on and find an old man with a bellhop type uniform on. "Where do you need to go, young man?" I give a charming smile and say "4 Privet Drive in Surrey, please." He nods and points to a seat behind me, "Eleven sickles." After handing over the money and sitting down at the seat, the bus lurches forward and I slide across the seat. I look to my left and see a man getting drenched in his tea.

Another man that was trying to walk towards the front of the bus for whatever reason was thrown off of his feet and onto his back. A lady sleeping in her seat fell out of it and started rolling around on the floor, her screams of terror causing the shrunken head in the front to laugh at her misfortune.

After about three dreaded minutes filled with speedy and reckless driving, the bus pulls in front of the entrance of Privet Drive. As I stand up and head towards the exit, the old man says "Remember to use the Knight Bus for all of your travelling needs!" I get off of the bus and it disappears in a flash.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters, places, or ideas. That all belongs to JK Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, well… Let's just say that the Golden Trio would've been Harry, Hermione, and Neville.**_

The Hope a Stranger Gives

Chapter 3: All Aboard

September 1st 1991

Making sure that I have packed all of my stuff into my trunk I search my cupboard once more. "Hedwig, have you seen my Magical Theory book? I was reading it again last night." I look at Hedwig who screeches while looking at my desk. I walk to my desk before looking inside and finding my Magical Theory book and two jars of ink. "Thank you, Hedwig."

Placing the book and jars of ink in my trunk, I then shrink the trunk down and place it into the pockets of my khaki pants. On my birthday, I was allowed to leave the house and I used the time to buy a new muggle wardrobe for myself.

"Alright, in your cage Hedwig." Hedwig hoots before flying into her cage. I pick up her cage and leave the cupboard. "Hurry up and get in the car, I want to be rid of you as soon as possible." I roll my eyes and carry Hedwig to the car. I hold Hedwig's cage in my lap while waiting for Vernon, once he enters the car and puts his seatbelt on, we drive off towards King's Cross Station.

An hour later and we arrived at the train station. "Alright boy, don't come back for Christmas or Easter. Now get out of here, so I can enjoy you not being here," Vernon says with a smile on his seal like face. I climb out of the car with Hedwig's cage and walk towards where I know the entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters is.

I pass a group of redheads that have a very loud mother. "So many muggles this year! Where is Platform Nine and Three-Quarters?" I look at the woman and see that she has children much older than eleven. It is literally impossible for her to not know where the platform is. Also, why is she saying words like 'muggle' that loud? She's going to end up breaking the Statute of Secrecy and being arrested.

I ignore the family and walk through the brick column separating the muggle station from the magical station. I see parents saying goodbye to their children and kids not old enough to go to Hogwarts crying and hugging their siblings. I feel a spark of jealousy at the sight of parents hugging their children but I ignore it and climb onto the scarlet train.

Finding an empty compartment at the back of the train, I take out my trunk and enlarge it before placing it on the carrier above me. I pull out the book, The Last Stand, and begin to read. Not five minutes go by before someone knocks on the compartment door. When I open the door and see Blaise from Madam Malkin's standing there with his trunk and a light skinned and dark haired boy at his side. "Oh, hey Harry. Mind if we sit in here? Other compartments are loud and we wanted to read." I nod and sit back down as they put their trunks on the carrier next to mine.

Gesturing to the pale skinned boy, Blaise says "Harry, this is my friend Theodore. Theodore, this is Harry." Theodore narrows his eyes at Blaise before scoffing and saying "Call me Theo. Theodore sounds much too old."

Instantly, I think of my full name: Hadrian. "I understand completely. My birth name if Hadrian, which I found out four years ago, but I prefer Harry."

Theo smiles his understanding and both he and Blaise pull out books. Theo pulls something called 'Darkest Darkness' out and Blaise pulls out something that looks like it's written in Italian and I go back to reading The Last Stand.

There were twelve of us, we were doing a raid on a known Death Eater hideout. If I had known that we were walking into a trap and only three of us would limp out, I would have left that warehouse then and there. If I had known that we had a traitor in our midst and that he had been scooped up by Lord Voldemort just a week ago, I would have used every curse that I had known on that traitor. My best friend, Manny, pats my shoulder and says "We're ready when you are, boss." I nod and gesture to the door with my wand, "Stay frosty." We stacked up against the door, "One, two, thr-"

Another knock stopped me from reading again. Standing again, I open the door and see the blonde girl from Diagon Alley with a brunette girl. "You mind if we sit in here? The others are… excitable to say the least." Just how loud are the others to where people go to the back of the train to find a compartment? I thought that everyone else would already have friends that they wanted to sit with. "Sure, come in." I help the girl with her trunk while Blaise helps the other girl.

The blonde girl sits on the seat next to me, while the brunette sits next to Theo and Blaise and across from me. "I'm Daphne Greengrass and she is my best friend, Tracey Davis." I nod my head, storing the information away for later before replying "I'm Harry Potter, it's nice to meet you, Daphne and Tracey." Blaise and Theo look at each other before looking up at me. Blaise mimics a fish out of water before finally asking "You're Harry Potter? Why didn't you say that?" I smile and respond "You two didn't tell me your last names, so I didn't tell mine."

He smirks and says "Blaise Zabini." Theo nods and responds "Theodore Nott." I smile and go back to my book once more.

We stacked up against the door, "One, two, three… Reducto!" I shout while flicking my wand downward to the right and then downward to the left. Once the door is obliterated, I immediately see a single Death Eater pulling out his wand. "Petrificus Totalus," I say quickly while moving my wand in a key motion but with a straight down movement at the end. My squad and I take cover behind small pillars to prepare for the wave of scum that is going to show up any moment now.

As the man falls to my full body bind, a woman comes up the stairs. She starts to shout "Expulso," I bring my wand up and make a full counter-clockwise movement while saying "Cogita." A bright golden ethereal shield appears in front of me that reflects the curse back at the caster.

"Excuse me, have any of you seen a toad? A boy lost his." I look up to see a bushy haired and slight buck tooth girl standing at the door. "I haven't seen one, but you could go to a prefect and ask them to summon it for you. I know the spell but I haven't tried casting it on a living being and I don't want to risk splinching it."

The girl nods and turns to walk away before turning back around and sticking out her hand, "I'm Hermione Granger." I look at her hand for a moment, determining that it's clean, before shaking the proffered hand and replying "Harry Potter. Nice to meet you, Hermione."

She smiled brightly before turning and leaving the compartment. I wonder if we'll be in the same house? She seemed nice, I will try to talk more with her later. Looking back down at my book, I delve once more into the amazing story of Rick Richards, leader of the Phoenix squad of the Auror Corps.

We rush into the basement, two more Death Eaters in our way. Making a six with my wand but without closing the end and curving downward instead, I shout "Expelliarmus!" *Check end of the chapter for picture demonstrations and pronunciations*. "Avada Kedavra," the worst words that I have ever had the displeasure of hearing are screeched from behind me.

I turn and see my brother in all but blood and the best man at my wedding fall down, dead from a curse in the back. "Manny!"

"Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full." A new voice pulls me from my book. Am I ever going to get to read my book in peace? Marking my page and then snapping my book shut, I look up to see one of the red heads from King's Cross standing there.

Everywhere else is full? I seriously doubt that. Even if it were true, which is a huge if, what makes ours any different? Before I can say anything, Blaise replies for me with "We're pretty much at full capacity in here." The ginger boy scowled at Blaise before cutting his eyes back to me. "You're Harry Potter, right? Do you really have the scar?"

Oh, so that's what this is about. It can't be a coincidence that his mother was being absolutely barmy and yelling things like 'muggle' and 'platform nine and three-quarters' and now I conveniently have the last full cabin. They must have been looking for me, right? I mean, she had three other kids that seemed to attend Hogwarts at the moment and there is no way that she just forgot where the entrance was when she has that many children.

"Yes, I am Harry Potter. Yes, I do really have the scar. No, you can not see it." The boy seemed confused as to why I would deny him the chance of seeing the famous scar for himself. As he continued to stand there, I became annoyed that he wouldn't leave. "Nott? What are you hanging with Nott for, Harry? Next, you'll be with rubbing elbows with Malfoy," the red headed boy said angrily as he spotted Theo in the cabin.

"What was that, Weasley? Got something to say about me," A voice drawled from behind the 'Weasley' kid. Upon hearing the voice, Weasley spun around faster than I thought humanly possible, causing me to get a look at the boy that I assume is Malfoy. The pale boy had bleach blond hair and blue-grey eyes, "Say it to my face."

Sensing a huge argument coming, I clear my throat to interrupt the two strangers. They both turn and look at me and I raise a questioning eyebrow at them both, "Excuse me, but I never caught your names." The pale blond boy stepped forward and took a deep bow, "Draconis Lucius Malfoy. My family and friends call me Draco." The Weasley boy looked at Draco with such hate that I thought he might try and throttle him. The boy pushed past Draco and seemed to puff out his chest whilst saying "I am Ron Weasley, the youngest male of the Weasley family, the best wizard's chess player that you'll ever meet and expert at all things quidditch."

Nodding to both boys, I look at Weasley before asking "What business is it of yours, who I choose to associate myself with?" Ron blinked a mile a minute before saying, "Well, I'm most likely going to Gryffindor and you probably are too."

I raise an eyebrow at the flushed boy and decide to play with him for a bit. A little history lesson on the family that I know about should do the trick. "Why would you assume that I am going to Gryffindor? I could end up in Ravenclaw or Slytherin." Ron has the nerve to look at me as if the thought of me going anywhere else personally offended him. "Of course you're going to Gryffindor, both of your parents were in Gryffindor."

"I'm not sure if you noticed, but I am not my parents. Anyways, my grandmother was a Slytherin." Both Ron and Draco look surprised and simultaneously ask "Really? Who?" I laugh as the two look murderously at the other before saying, "Her name was Dorea Black."

The two both looked shocked at the name and Draco asked "Black? Your grandmother was a black?" At my nod, Draco gains a victorious smirk and says "My mother was a Black as well. Her name is Narcissa. The next time you go to Gringotts, you should ask to see a family tree to find out how we're related."

We're related? I have family in the wizarding world? I know that all of the other Potter's are dead, I never even thought about cousins that I may have. "Alright, I will do that. During the summer, most likely."

Draco nods before waving at the others and then leaving, presumably back to his compartment. "You should probably be going too, Weasley. We're just going to read and something tells me that you're not the quiet type." Daphne says while looking up from her book on jinxes.

Ron's eyes grow wide as his eyes land on the book, "See Harry? They're dark I tell you! She is reading a book on jinxes!" Daphne just shook her head in exasperation and then went back to reading. "I have a book on curses and hexes," I say when I tire of Ron glaring at one of my new friends.

"You what? Why do you have one of those?" I roll my eyes at Weasley before explaining "Curses and hexes are needed in a fight and I want to become an Auror like my father was. What? Do you expect to go in a fight only casting stunners?" At the blush that appears on Ron's cheeks and ear tips, I let out a laugh.

Narrowing his eyes at me, Ron turns around and leaves the cabin. Oops. Sorry Remus, but I think I have an enemy already. I've got nothing to worry about look at his clothes. His family obviously isn't rich so they can't cause too much trouble for me.

About seven hours later, the train pulled into Hogsmeade station and with all of us dressed in our robes, we exited the train together. I pull my robes closer to my skin as the cool night air makes me shiver. I start to look around for where we need to go before a giant man at least ten feet tall calls our attention,"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

"C'mon, follow me. Are there any more firs' years? Firs' years follow me!" Following the man, we trudged down the muddy path, trying our best not to fall. "Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend here."

The others oohed and awed at the grand castle but I was left speechless. The castle had ramparts so tall, that it looked like they touched the heavens. I have been waiting for so long to come here and now I'm almost there. Only the vast black lake standing between me and my future. "No more'n four tah a boat!" I get in a boat with Blaise, Theo, and Draco while Daphne and Tracey get in a boat with Hermione and an Indian girl.

The boats started to move without oars pushing them along and I started looking into the lake when I saw the famous giant squid pass under us. I get so caught up in the amazing animal that I almost missed the giant yelling "Duck yer heads!" Lowering my head quickly, which I didn't actually need to do, I raise it back up and see that we are at the shore of the black lake.

"Hey, you there? Still got yer toad? Good. C'mon" We follow the giant towards a set of grand doors, where he then knocks on the door with a ham-sized fist. A stern looking woman opens the door and the giant gestures at us, "The firs' years, Professor McGonagall."

Well, that was pointless. I doubt that she thought we may have been the seventh years.

"Thank you, Hagrid. Follow me," McGonagall says before going deeper into the castle. We're led into a small room that is far too comfy to be comfortable, with all of us squeezed in next to each other. "You will wait here until I come and get you for the sorting," the professor says before going out of a different door and into the grand hall.

As the door closed behind her, the kids started whispering furiously. I couldn't help but laugh at the sound of an Irish boy asking "What do you think we have to do for the sorting," and the voice of Weasley responding with "My brothers said that we have to fight a troll."

Ron glares at me after hearing me laugh and asks "Eh, what are you laughing at?" I turn fully towards him and say "You'd have to be very naive to believe that we'd have to fight a troll, no?" His face seems to try to imitate a tomato after Hermione starts to laugh at him as well. "How would you know what we have to do?"

Has this boy never read a book? Maybe it's because he was raised around magic and it doesn't seem like a big deal to him but I wanted to learn everything possible about Hogwarts and stuff like that the moment that I started believing in magic.

"Have you ever read Hogwarts: A History? It's in there, all that we have to do is put on a hat." I say with exasperation at the boy's ignorance. That statement seemed to make Hermione happy because she started beaming at me. "That's my favorite book! Remember the part about the giant squid? I think I saw him in the lake." I nod with a small smile on my face, "You did, I saw him under our boats."

Hermione opened her mouth to say something else when she was cut off by at least three girls screaming. We turned towards the noise at the back of the room and see two ghost coming through the wall, "I say we give him another chance." The other ghost scoffed at that and replied "How many chances have we given him? He's not even a real ghost anyway." The ghosts stopped when they saw us and one said "Hello, children! Preparing to be sorted, I see. Do try to get into Hufflepuff, my old house."

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and the ghosts took one look at her glare and left whilst waving at us. "Alright, follow me into the great hall we'll have you all sorted into one of the four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin."

We follow the lady into the great hall and there have to be hundreds of students in there, looking at us like zoo animals. I look up at the ceiling that's charmed to look like the sky to avoid the eyes of the students when Hermione says "I want to learn the charm that they use on the roof to make it look like that. Imagine if you could do that to your own house." I nod my head and look back in front of me when I realize that we've stopped.

On a stool sits a dirty hat that just stays there for a while before some of the stitches open up to reveal a mouth. It takes a deep breath before singing:

Oh you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you have a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!

The hall exploded in cheering and the hat bowed at each table before going still. Professor McGonagall walked forward with a roll of parchment and called out "Abbot, Hannah!" A girl with dirty blonde hair walked forward slowly and then sat on the stool, placing the hat on her head. The hat took thirty seconds before screaming, "Hufflepuff!" A table with people dressed in yellow and black robes burst out in applause and Hannah looked relieved.

"Bones, Susan!" A scarlet haired girl walked up to the stool and sat down quickly. The hat fell onto her head, covering her blue eyes. The hat was on her head for about a minute when she started to smile brightly before the hat yelled, "Hufflepuff!" The black and yellow table cheered and whistled this time as she strutted over and sat down next to the Abbot girl.

"Boot, Terry!" I felt some hands slightly nudge me to the side and I stepped out of the way for a black haired boy to walk by. He seems terribly uppity with the way he walked like he was the smartest guy in the room or something. The boy sat down on the stool and crossed his right leg over his left as the hat was set onto his head. "Ravenclaw!" This time a table with students cloaked in blue and black started clapping loudly.

A Mandy Brocklehurst went to Ravenclaw next and a Lavender Brown went to Gryffindor. As Lavender walked towards a table filled with people in red and gold, a set of red-haired twins started cat-calling the girl.

Millicent Bulstrode was the first Slytherin followed by Tracey Davis while Hufflepuff received another member in Justin Finch-Fletchley. The Irish boy from before was sorted into Gryffindor and then Hermione walked up to the stool and sat down. It took about five seconds before the hat shouted, "Ravenclaw!"

"Greengrass, Daphne!" McGonagall called and Daphne walked confidently up to the stool and sat gracefully on it. Once the hat was placed on her head, it sat there for fifteen seconds before calling, "Slytherin!"

Okay, so two out of five of my friends are in Slytherin. Two out of six if I count Hermione, but I need to speak with her more. I didn't get to talk to her on the train as much as I did with Blaise, Daphne, Theo, Tracey, and Draco.

By the time that I focus back on the sorting, a girl named Su Li is placed into Ravenclaw. "Longbottom, Neville!" A slightly chubby boy walked nervously up to the stool. The hat was put on his head and after it yelled out Hufflepuff, the boy walked towards the table with the hat still on his head. The people in the room started laughing before he walked quickly back to the stool and placed the hat back down.

"Malfoy, Draco!" McGonagall calls while looking for Draco, who then swaggers up to the stool. The moment that the hat touches his head, Draco is sorted into Slytherin. The table of green and silver cheer louder than they did for Daphne, Tracey, or Millicent and he slinks over to the table before having his hand shook by different students.

Lil Moon is sorted into Ravenclaw before Theo is sorted into Slytherin as well. Okay so four out of five of my friends are in Slytherin, hopefully, Blaise and I get in too.

A pug-faced girl named Pansy Parkinson is sent to Slytherin. Parvati Patil was sorted into Gryffindor after her twin, Padma, was sorted into Ravenclaw. Sally-Anne Perks was sorted into Hufflepuff before Professor McGonagall called out "Potter, Harry!" The hall is immediately abuzz with whispers. I manage to hear someone say "Harry Potter, did she say?" Someone else says "The Harry Potter is at Hogwarts?"

Rolling my eyes, I saunter up to the stool before sitting down.

Difficult one, aren't you? You've got courage hidden behind the surface, waiting to show itself. A great mind that will be tempered with age, and ambition to be the best. Loyalty is at best, unclear at the moment. So where shall I place you, hmm? In the house of your parents? In the house of your grandmother? Or maybe a different one entirely?

"Place me with my friends if you will. Slytherin has the most heirs of ancient families and I need allies for when I am on the Wizengamot" I say in my head before the hat bursts out laughing and says "Oh my boy, it is quite obvious that you belong in SLYTHERIN!"

The school seemed to fall silent before Draco started clapping, causing the rest of Slytherin to clap. I place the hat back on the stool and walk over to the table where I sit with Draco, Theo, Daphne, and Tracey.

I shook a couple of people's, mainly prefects, hands before we turned back towards the sorting. I felt like someone was staring at me as I watched the others get sorted. I turned my head and saw both the Headmaster and a greasy haired man staring at me. They both averted their gaze when they realized that I had caught them staring.

I look back to the sorting in time to see Blaise be sent to Slytherin. We all clapped for him as he sat across from Tracey, who was sitting next to Theo.

After Professor McGonagall took the sorting hat away, Headmaster Dumbledore stood and beamed at each of the tables with his arms out like he wanted to hug each and every person in the room. "Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And they are Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" The occupants of the room started clapping and cheering for the seemingly senile headmaster. Food appeared on all of the extravagant gold plates that were on the tables but I couldn't help but stare at the old man for a moment longer.

"My father said that he was a bit mad," Draco whispers when he sees my raised eyebrow at the man's show of minor insanity. "I think that your father was right," I quietly reply before placing some lamb chops and roasted potatoes on my plate.

A pain that feels like someone stabbing me in the head makes me wince and stop eating. None of my friends notice so I look up at the head table and find the greasy haired man looking at me interestedly before looking at a man wearing a purple turban.

Turning my head to the right of the greasy man, I see the headmaster looking at each table with a strange twinkle in his eyes. To the headmaster's right, I see a very short and not-quite-human looking man laughing with the giant that took us to the boats.

"The staff is… interesting to say the least," I say after scanning the rest of the table and finding Professor McGonagall wearing a very stereotypical witch hat. Draco snorted in amusement and said "If by interesting, you mean the weirdest people that you're likely to ever meet? Then yes, they're very interesting."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters, places, or ideas. That all belongs to JK Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, well… Let's just say that Harry wouldn't have allowed certain individual to influence him to slack off as much as he did.**_

The Hope a Stranger Gives

Chapter 4: Aftershock

September 2nd 1991

Darkness. Everywhere that I look, I see darkness. I can feel a turban on my head, wrapping itself tighter and tighter around me until it causes pain. "You should have joined Gryffindor, boy. People won't look at you the same. You won't be a hero to them anymore, you'll be just another dark wizard. A dark lord," A voice that sounds strangely like Vernon.

Feeling myself get angry at the mocking voice, I shout "I don't want to be anyone's hero and I don't care what they think of me!" Letting out another laugh, the voice changes into Dumbledore's and replies "You say that now, my boy! But everyone wants to be a hero."

The damnable twinkle in his eye infuriates me further and I start to run deeper into the darkness. "Freak," Dudley's voice yells out and I hear Petunia laugh in agreement. "You're different, Harry. Even here in the magical world, you are different. You'll never blend in, no matter where you are. Look at me," I look towards the sound of the voice and find Griphook from Gringotts gesturing to himself. "Wizards don't spare me a second glance even though muggles would think that my kind is weird. Yet here, wizards point and they stare and they whisper about you.

"You'll always stand out and you should learn to accept that right now or you will have a very miserable time moaning over your fame and feeling sorry for yourself." I nod at the goblin before standing up a little straighter. "You're right, I am famous and there is nothing that I can do about it. I have more money than anyone could ever spend and I will definitely not complain about it. My parents are dead and they aren't coming back. I'm done feeling sorry for myself and being jealous of everyone else."

The goblin smiles before turning his back and walking away. I hear a strange popping sound and turn around to find a door standing by itself in the darkness. I walk over towards the door and open it slowly. A bright white light pours out of the door and I let take a deep breath before stepping slowly into the white light, all the while chanting "Please don't be dead, please don't be dead."

The door slams shut behind me and I wake up with a start. Looking around me, I notice that I am asleep in my bed in the Slytherin boys dorm. To my right, I see Draco in his bed still asleep, Blaise to my left is hanging halfway out of his bed with his face mere inches from the floor.

Chuckling, I grab my wand from my holster and cast the time checking spell, tempus. "Six-fifteen. We have to all be in the great hall at seven for breakfast and classes should start at eight. Might as well start my morning routine." Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I get out of the soft four-poster and reach into my drawer. Pulling out my toiletries, I then walk to the foot of my bed and dig through my trunk until I find a long-sleeved emerald green shirt, plain black khaki pants, green socks lined with white, and a pair of black and white kicks.

Once inside the bathroom, I put my clothes on a shelf before entering a shower stall and closing the door behind me. Turning the water on until the stall is filled with steam, I pour some shampoo into my hair and start to scrub vigorously.

About ten minutes later, I stepped out of the bathroom with my clothes on and walked back over to my trunk. I pulled out my black robes that now had a Slytherin emblem on it and slipped it over my clothes. I turn my head towards Draco's bed when I hear him sitting up. He starts to blink rapidly before checking his pocket watch.

"What the? How long have you been up? It's only six twenty-seven." Shrugging, I can't help but remember all of the times that I have had to get up at six to make breakfast for the Dursleys. The worst days were when it was Dudley's birthday and I had to get up at four in the morning to make all of his favorite foods. "Only for about twelve minutes. I'm used to waking up early anyway."

"Oh. Well, I am just going to go shower and then we'll go to breakfast." He started walking off and I looked at Zabini and Nott, wondering if I should wake them.

After waiting on Draco for fifteen minutes, Blaise woke up and glanced at me and then at Draco's empty bed. "What time is it?" I cast Tempus again and answered "It is six forty-two. We have to be at breakfast at seven but I didn't know if I should wake you two or not."

He pushed himself away from the floor and out of bed and then retrieved clothes out of his trunk. "It's fine. I'm going to go shower, could you wake up Theo?" I nod in response and then he trudged to the showers.

"Theo, wake up." Nott didn't respond and I was growing annoyed at having to wait for everyone so I loudly called "Theodore!"

To my surprise, Theo shot straight up with a look of fear on his face. He looked around the room for a moment before his eyes landed on me. When he saw that I was the only one in the room, he visibly relaxed and then his face reddened and his eyes narrowed.

"Never wake me up like that again. And I told you to call me Theo, only my father calls me Theodore." I didn't miss the way the that he said the word 'father' with venom and I arch an eyebrow. There must be something going on with those two. Ignoring my thoughts, for now, I hold my hands up in a placating manner and say "Alright, sorry. But you really should hurry and get dressed, it's almost six forty-five."

Glaring at me for a few more seconds, Theo turned and basically stomped to the showers. Note to self, never mention Theo's father or call him by his full name.

Draco came back into the room with his hair perfectly gelled into place. "Okay Harry, my father told me a bit about how Slytherin works so I will try and show you the ropes. First of all, everyone started hating us the moment we were sorted into Slytherin. Due to that, we snakes should stick together. That means that we will all walk to classes together, we will sit together at meals, and we will defend each other from the other houses. If someone from another house, especially Gryffindor, pulls a wand on a fellow Slytherin, you draw your wand immediately."

I nod absently while thinking about what he said. They started hating us because of where we were sorted? Will Hermione hate me now?

I am dragged out of my thoughts when both Blaise and Theo walked back into the room two minutes later. "We're ready," Blaise said after staring into the mirror for about thirty seconds while brushing his hair. Draco nodded and said, "Let's go then."

We left the boys dorm and walked into the common room where we find Daphne and Tracey waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. "Finally! Tracey's been complaining about being hungry for the past five minutes," Daphne said before mock glaring at the brunette girl.

Tracey blushed and shook her head. "So, they were taking a long time and I was hungry. As a matter of fact, I am still hungry so let's go." Exiting the dungeons, the six of us started walking towards the great hall. During the journey, I heard people whispering things like "Harry Potter is a Slytherin? He must be the next Dark Lord." and "I bet that he used the dark arts to defeat you-know-who." and my absolute favorite "The duel between two Dark Lords must've been amazing, I wish that I could've seen that."

I can't help but laugh at the last one and Draco shook his head before saying "See? Now they think that you're a Dark Lord." Behind us, Theo started laughing and said "The idiots actually think that you were a Dark Lord at a year old." We all started laughing and as we entered the great hall, all eyes turned to us. More specifically, all eyes turned to me.

"So I said that the negligible time it would take to undo Conjunctivitis curse would make casting it in a fight rather useless." I nod my head at the conclusion that my long-time friend and fellow professor, Filius Flitwick, made but before I could retort, the great hall went into utter silence causing me to look up at the door.

Standing at the door is none other than Harry Potter with five others with him. Two of which, I recognize as Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott Jr. Both of which are children of 'imperious' victims that were 'forced' into being Death Eaters.

I look closely at the boy that looks so much like his father and notice that he rolls his eyes when he sees that everyone is staring at him. Harry and his group proceed to the Slytherin table and seat themselves at the middle of the table, which is usually where the other heirs of powerful families sit.

This is not good, not good at all. I specifically made sure that there were no directions on how to get onto platform nine and three-quarters in his letter. He was supposed to ask the Weasley's for help and then become friends with young Ronald. I had hoped that the boy would talk bad enough about Slytherin that Harry wouldn't possibly join that house.

Not that there is anything particularly wrong with that house, but if he befriends Malfoy or Nott and goes to their house over the holidays while Malfoy and Nott senior are there… They may take advantage of the situation and get revenge on Harry for destroying their master.

But he's not destroyed, is he? I can sense his presence in the castle but I am not sure where it is coming from. Somehow, Tom managed to survive the killing curse like Harry did. Or at least, he didn't die completely. That is why I have placed the Philosopher's Stone at Hogwarts. Not only will it lure Voldemort to Hogwarts so that he can steal the stone, but it will provide a nice test for Harry to see if he can get past the obstacles and save the stone before Tom can use it to come back.

No one else knows, but Harry will play an even bigger part in our history than just that of the 'boy-who-lived'. If worst comes to pass and I cannot stand against Tom when he comes back, the world will need Harry. Yes, they need him more than they can possibly know.

I look to my left and see Severus standing up with a stack of schedules for the students that just walked in. "Severus, could you please tell Harry that I wish to meet with him at six o'clock in the afternoon on Friday?"

The potions master nodded slightly before strutting towards the group. Well, that is one good thing about Harry joining Slytherin, Snape won't actively try to humiliate a Slytherin. I can only imagine how bad it would have been had the boy been sorted into Gryffindor.

Tracey had just finished telling us the story about how she and her family went to Magical Salem and saw Muggle Boston when Theo asked "Draco, didn't you and your parents go to Paris this past summer?" Draco nodded and finished chewing before saying "Yes, we went to the magical part and mother convinced my father to take us shopping at the muggle part. Now don't get me wrong, I hate muggles with a passion, but the Eiffel Tower was kind of neat."

A smirk crossed my face but I quickly schooled it and put on a surprised tone before saying, "And you weren't scared?" Draco blinked and then frowned and asked "Scared of the tower or of the muggles?" I shook my head furiously and looked around to make sure that no one could hear us. I leaned into the table and stage whispered, "Not the muggles… The mimes!"

Our group, as well as everyone in earshot of our conversation, started laughing after I finished my little show. I noticed that the older students at the other tables were looking at us strangely and I slightly frowned. Slytherins must not laugh a lot, I am going to have to change that. I don't want to spend seven years at a table of silent and depressed people.

Before I can start to plan any pranks and such that will get them to laugh, I feel someone standing directly behind me. I turn my head slightly and see the greasy haired man called Professor Snape, Head of Slytherin house. "Here are your schedules: Potter, Malfoy, Nott, Zabini, Greengrass, Davis, Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle." He called each of our names before handing us the schedule and then turned to me, "The Headmaster wishes to meet with you at six on Friday, Potter. You'll find that he is quite fond of Lemon Drops lately."

With that, the man turned and headed back to the head table and I turned towards Draco. "Why does the Headmaster want to meet with me?" He smirked in reply and rolled his eyes. "He most likely thought that you were going to be in Gryffindor, I know I did. He probably just wants to make sure that you aren't going dark or anything."

Really? It's our second day here and I am already tired of people accusing me of being dark. It seems weird to single a student out anyway, let alone someone as famous as I am. All that this is going to lead to is people accusing me of getting special treatment.

"What class do we have first? Please don't let it be History of Magic. My parents have told me stories of that class," Tracey said with a faraway look in her eye. I chuckled and then looked at our schedule, "You're in luck Tracey, we have Charms with the Claws first."

"At what time?" Draco asked before going back to his scrambled eggs. "Hmm… At eight." I cast Tempus and say "It's currently seven twenty-three. We should leave at seven forty-five so that we can get there with time to spare." The others nodded and we went back to telling jokes while eating breakfast.

Twenty-five minutes later found us Slytherins lined up outside of the charms class on the right side of the door and the Ravenclaws on the left side. "Oh, sorry that I kept you waiting. In you go, pick your seats. In the first year, I have the houses stay separate so that I can memorize your house affiliation but in second year and up, you'll be able to sit with who you wish."

I look towards the voice and see the short man from the head table. Earlier, I described him as 'not quite human' but now I notice that he looks goblin-esque but not as much as Griphook. After the man opens the door, he walked up to the front of the class and stood behind his desk. He seemed to be standing on a stack of books but I didn't have a chance to confirm it as I had to find a seat.

The seats reminded me of a stadium because each row was set at a different level with stairs leading up to each. I walked to the end of the second row closest to the teacher and sat down. Draco sat to my left, Daphne sat directly in front of me, Tracey sat next to her and in front of Draco, and Blaise sat behind me and next to Theo.

We sat and waited for the others to get in their seats as Pansy practically raced over to us so that she could sit next to Draco who rolled his eyes when she sat much closer than necessary. I started scanning the room for the other Slytherins and I noticed that Crabbe and Goyle sat in the furthest corner away from the teacher and pulled out chocolate frogs.

The Ravenclaws seemed to want to keep their distance from us and sat on the opposite side of the room. I roll my eyes at that and Draco whispers "Don't blame them, everyone knows that snakes bite." I chuckle at that and continue to search the room.

Just as I see Hermione sit down with Padma Patil and Su Li, my attention is brought back to the front of the class by the teacher clearing his throat. "Hello, young ones! For those of you that aren't in Ravenclaw, my name is Filius Flitwick and I am the Charms Master of Hogwarts. Today I'll be trying to get to know you all and I go over the syllabus for this year."

Professor Flitwick grabbed a roll of parchment off of his desk and started roll call with "Terry Boot?" The uppity boy from the sorting raised his hand and said "Present, Professor." The professor nodded and after calling Mandy Brocklehurst, Millicent Bulstrode, and Tracey Davis, I tuned out.

"Harry Potter?" My eyes dart back to the tiny teacher and I see an excited expression on his face. "Over here, Professor," I say while raising my hand. "Splendid, Mr. Potter! Lily was my favorite student, she was a prodigy at charms. I expect nothing less than the best from you Mr. Potter!"

I nod my head and give a small smile but inside I am slightly irritated. I know that my mom was an absolute genius with Charms but I don't want to be constantly compared or measured up to my parents. I just know that McGonagall is going to say something similar to me about my dad.

The class went by with Flitwick telling us about how he was dueling champion and about some of the charms that we will be learning throughout the year. I frowned when I realized that by me working so far ahead, I already knew all of the charms that he listed. In the time between me buying a wand and going to Hogwarts, I worked like crazy through first, second, and even some of the third year spells. So I guess that Transfiguration and Charms will be relatively boring for me.

Transfiguration with the Gryffs was much of the same: McGonagall telling me of her expectations, listing the spells that we'll do this year, and learning our names. The only fun parts of that class were when she revealed herself to be an animagus and reprimanded Ron Weasley for being late and her expression of disbelief when I turned my match into a needle the moment it was laid on my desk. Ronald seemed angry at that and later said that it was definitive proof that I am a Dark Lord, because "Only a Dark Lord would be able to get those spells that quick."

Herbology with the Puffs was pretty fun. Professor Sprout said that she promotes cooperation between houses so we were all paired up with a Hufflepuff. I was paired with Neville Longbottom who is actually really good with the subject. He said that his manor has two different greenhouses and that he spends most of his summers in there.

I fell asleep halfway into History of Magic but when I woke up, I was baffled at how anyone could make the deadliest wars in magical history sound as boring as watching grass grow.

Flying with the Gryffindors was my favorite class of the week. I had heard that Neville sprained his wrist when he went to the class and ended up losing his remember-ball. I may just be a natural or something but I don't understand how he fell, flying was almost as easy as walking for me. I'm definitely going to try out for the Quidditch team next year because the wind in my hair and the rush of being so high up was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Defense Against the Dark Arts or DADA as it's usually called was terrible. Between Quirrell's horribly annoying stuttering and his equally horrible smell, he quickly became my least favorite teacher. Also, my head felt like it was being ripped apart the whole time that I was in the class. My scar felt like someone had poured acid on it and the iguana that Quirrell was holding the whole time kept staring at me!

So that has been my week so far. Currently, I am sitting at a desk with Draco in the front-right corner of Potion's class taught by my head of house, Professor Snape. We're waiting with the Gryffs for the Professor to arrive when the door slams shut behind us and Snape struts to his desk with his cape billowing out behind him.

Like Flitwick, Professor Snape started class with roll call but when Snape got to my name, he didn't seem excited, he just stared at me for five long seconds with those creepy black eyes of his before moving on.

Once he was finished with role call, Snape seemed to glare at everyone in the room before quietly saying "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe that this is magic.

"I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through the human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses…. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper on death. That's if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads that I usually teach."

I can't help but feel that he wrote that speech and uses it or at least a variant of it every year but I don't even have time to think on my observation before I hear the Professor shout out "Weasley! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" The class looked towards Ron who seemed to be sweating under the scrutiny before he replied "Worm-odel?"

The Slytherins started laughing until Snape waved his hand, silencing the room before sneering at Ron and asking "Wrong! Finnegan, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?" This time, the class turned toward the Irish boy who smirked and said "In your cabinets, sir."

A few of the Gryffs laughed and I caught Dean Thomas giving him a low-five under their desk. "Five points from Gryffindor for your tongue, Finnegan!" He started scanning the room and seemed to growl out "Brown! What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

We all turned towards the pretty blonde Gryffindor girl and she seemed scared of the Professor as well. "I don't know sir." Professor Snape sneered at the class and said "Pathetic! Please enlighten me on why two purebloods and one half-blood didn't know the answer to any of the questions asked yet a muggleborn Ravenclaw girl answered each of these questions correctly?"

Oh! So that's what he is doing. It's no secret that Slytherin's are rather biased towards muggleborns, I guess that Snape is showing that blood status doesn't actually matter. I look to my left and see Draco with a thoughtful frown on his face before I hear Snape say "Potter." I look back at the Professor and he narrows his eyes slightly before asking "You were raised by muggles, yes?" At my nod, Snape scans the class and asks "Can you answer any of the questions?"

I nod and start counting off of my fingers "Asphodel and wormwood make a powerful sleeping potion named the Draught of Living Death, a bezoar is found in a goat's stomach and counters most poisons, and monkshood and wolfsbane are different names for the same plant. I believe they also call it aconite."

Professor Snape nods while giving me an appraising look before glaring at the others and snapping out "Well, why aren't you writing that down?" The whole room started for their parchment and quills and the frantic sound of writing was heard throughout the room.

The rest of the class was rather tame, Snape had us make a simple potion to cure boils and he walked around the room observing the other students. He would praise the Slytherins when they were doing well but Gryffindors only received nods of acknowledgment. He seemed to enjoy insulting Ron Weasley and Seamus Finnegan a bit more than any other Gryff. I guess that they just left a bad impression on him.

By the end of the class only Draco, Daphne, Theo, Pansy and myself had perfect potions and we each received an Outstanding for the week. I was making to leave class with Draco when Snape called out "Potter, don't forget that you have a meeting with the Headmaster at six tonight. Don't be late." I nod and reply "Yes sir, have a good evening." I turn and leave the class, the whole time I can feel Snape staring at me.

A long week, this has been. As the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the first and last month of school is always the busiest. In the first month, I always deal with new students getting acclimated to being without their parents for the first time and in the last month I have to deal with the students taking their OWL's or their NEWT's.

The weirdest thing of all by far is definitely young Harry Potter. The boy knows much more than I expected and seems to make friends faster than what I considered. He is basically always surrounded by those five Slytherins and lately has been seen to hang around Mr. Longbottom. The tracking charms that I placed on the boy say that he spends quite a bit of his time in the library with Ms. Granger and Ms. Bones.

The only people that he seems to not associate with are Gryffindors. But I know that is much more on them than on him. The rumors that the boy is a Dark Lord are nothing short of insane. At first, I was worried that he might become one but the boy seems friendly enough. Though, Tom was just a nice young boy once as well.

The gadget that monitors the tracking charm on the boy warn me that he is outside of the door, about to knock, so I say "Enter, Mr. Potter."

The door opens and the boy walks forward while casting glances around the room. He stares at Fawkes the Phoenix for a few seconds before sitting in the chair across from me. "Lemon Drop," I offer while gesturing to the bowl of candies coated in a calming potion. "No thank you, sir."

I sit quietly for a few minutes, waiting for the boy to lose his patience and ask why he is here but he never does. He just stares right back at me while avoiding looking directly into my eyes. Slytherin, indeed. I can't help but wonder about how James would react to his son being a Slytherin after he and his Marauders spent years pranking and borderline bullying them just for being sorted into the house of snakes.

Tired of the silence, I ask "How have you been, Harry? Do you like your classes?" Harry seems confused but replies "I've been good, Headmaster. Classes are fine, though I don't like History of Magic or DADA, I'm doing well in them."

I nod and give a soft smile, "Yes, the best in your year at DADA so far. The best at Transfiguration as well. Much like your father." A look of irritation crosses his face for a split second before he goes back to a neutral expression. Hmm? He doesn't seem to want to be compared to his parents. That's strange. I thought that he might open up more if he realized that I knew them. Different tactics, I suppose, will be necessary.

"I notice that you have been befriending members of the other houses," The boy frowns but nods anyway so I continue "But no Gryffindors. May I ask why?"

His eyes narrow slightly and he answers "Most of the Gryffs have been calling me a Dark Lord. The others don't speak to me and I have no desire to speak with them." Damn it, the boy needs to be able to forgive people. "Maybe you should be the one to give an olive branch."

The boy shakes his head and retorts "I don't need them to be my friends. Especially if they judge me just because of the house that I am in. I've seen the Gryffs in my year. They aren't the type of people that I associate with. We wouldn't mix well and I know that."

"You should always give people a chance, Harry. Many wouldn't have given Mr. Malfoy a chance, yet you did." The boy quirks an eyebrow and then says "Well Mr. Malfoy happens to be my cousin. He was also a much better alternative to the other person that wished to join our compartment."

I frown and pop a Lemon Drop into my mouth before continuing "The Weasleys happen to be your cousins as well. Would you give them a chance?" I quirk an eyebrow challengingly but the blowback of what I said finally hit me. If Harry knows that the Weasleys are his cousins, there is close to zero chance of him dating young Ginevra.

"Ronald is the main one spreading the Dark Lord rumors. May I ask why I am here, Professor? This doesn't seem to pertain to my academics but only of my social life. As far as I know, no other student has been to a meeting with you."

I wave my hand in dismissal before saying "You may leave Mr. Potter, though, I may need to speak with you again." The boy nods before standing up and leaving with a "Have a good evening, Headmaster."

I stare at the door that he exited through for a few moments before deciding that I'd have to be much more subtle the next time that I have to guide young Harry.

"Yes, subtlety will be key here. The boy must become the leader of the light one day. He can not do so without my guidance. I wish that he'd do it himself, but he hasn't even attempted to go to the dangerous room on the third floor yet. Maybe, I'll guide him to the Mirror of Erised. Yes, he'll become addicted to the mirror and then I will show myself in a helpful manner.

Whatever it takes, the boy must replace me one day. It is for the greater good after all.


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Due to some feedback that I've gotten, from here on out this story will be told in mostly third person with some thoughts expressed in first person. The thoughts should show up in italic. Also, Harry will not be an overpowered wizard in this story. That'll be made clear later.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters, places, or ideas. That all belongs to JK Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, well… Let's just say that a certain toad would've died from those Centaurs.**_

The Hope a Stranger Gives

Chapter 5: A Cunning Plan

September 7th 1991

 _Ahh Saturdays, Salazar bless them. If only every day could be Saturday, the world would be perfect. The perfect day where I just stay in bed all day and do a whole lot of nothing is reachable on this amazing day._

 _Alas, that dream is shattered when I feel someone stabbing me repeatedly in the neck. Wait, what?_

Draco's eyes fly open immediately and he starts for his wand when the boy hears his best friends, Harry, Blaise, and Theo burst out in laughter. _Those arseholes! What kind of civilized wizard wakes another up like that? I'd expect this sort of tomfoolery from a muggle maybe but wizards should be respectable!_ "What in the hell are you guys doing?"

"It's seven twenty-five. Just because Breakfast lasts longer on the weekend doesn't mean that you have to become a sloth," Harry says with a damnable smirk on his face. _Sloth? Sloth! Why I never…_ "Yes, how incredibly lazy of me, an eleven-year-old boy, to sleep past seven on a Saturday." The sarcasm present in the boy's tone seems to only make the others laugh harder. After a whole minute of Draco glaring at the chuckling buffoons, Blaise jerks his head towards the showers and says "For real, though, hurry up and get ready. We aren't trying to miss breakfast."

With an annoyed sigh, the blond Slytherin slinks out of his bed and grabs his clothes for the day which consisted of: a silk pine green shirt, tailored black pants, a black cloak made of silk, and tailor-made black dress shoes. _It is Saturday and father isn't here to reprimand me, I can afford to be a little casual._

Once he reached the shower, Draco picked a stall and went in after grabbing his french shampoo and conditioner that he picked up in the magical part of Paris. _It's made out of genuine unicorn saliva and honey from bees. The stuff is expensive but it's more than worth it. It helps my hair stay in place to ensure that I never look like a common ragamuffin. No really, that's what it says on the bottle._

Done with his shower, the Malfoy heir puts on his clothes and then uses a charm that his father taught him that cleans the caster's teeth and freshens their breath. Draco walks out of the bathroom to see the guys sitting on their beds reading different books and when he closes the door, they all lookup and Harry says "Thirteen minutes. It took you thirteen minutes to get ready."

Putting on a condescending smirk, Draco retorts "Counting the minutes until I returned? I'm flattered." The boys all laughed and proceeded to the common room. In the common room, they found their friends Daphne and Tracey waiting for them on the sofa. Both of the girls looked up at the group of boys with matching scowls.

"Why is it that we always end up waiting on you guys?It's not kind to keep a lady waiting." Daphne asked the boys in her cold and unfeeling tone reserved for people that have thoroughly vexed her. Before anyone else could retort, Harry took a step forward and made a show of searching the common room before quipping "Show us these ladies and we'll apologize."

Excluding Tracey, who looked a touch miffed yet still smiled, the group of kids all burst out laughing. "Let's go, I want to see the Daily Prophet for Rita's daily dose of garbage," Theo says after calming down but before walking to the door.

The group exit the common room and then left the dungeons altogether, joking and talking with each other until they reached the great hall. They walk inside and sit in the middle of the table, which they have claimed as their seats shortly after arriving at Hogwarts.

Not five minutes into their meal, the sound of owls screeching and flying is heard and multiple owls land near the kids. A brown owl with a Gringotts seal lands in front of Harry, a red owl lands in front of Theo with the Daily Prophet, while a midnight black owl lands in front of Daphne.

Harry gave the owl a strip of bacon and then opened the letter before reading it, frowning and passing it to Draco. It read:

 _Hello Mr. Potter_

 _My name is Sharpnail and I am the Potter family account manager. Thank you for asking me your questions but I am afraid that I cannot put some of the information that you require in a letter. You will need to come to Gringotts for us to meet to learn about the Potter family estate and other sensitive knowledge._

 _However, I can tell you of your rather extensive family. As you seem to know, your grandmother was Dorea Potter nee Black. She had an older brother named Cygnus Black who is the father of Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, Andromeda Tonks nee Black, and Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black. This makes those women your first cousins once removed._

 _Narcissa Malfoy has a son your age named Draco Malfoy, this boy is your second cousin. Andromeda Tonks also has a daughter that is currently in her seventh year at Hogwarts named Nymphadora._

 _Dorea also had a brother named Orion Black who married his second cousin, Walburga Black, and they had two sons named Sirius Black and Regulus Black._

 _You will have to come to Gringotts to see a full family tree. I couldn't possibly explain it all because the Blacks are a very old family and centuries of inbreeding has led to a complicated family tree._

 _May you vaults flow with gold,_

 _Sharpnail_

"Inbreeding? What's he talking about?" Draco asks once he finished reading the letter. Harry reaches over and points to the line about Orion and Walburga and explains "See that? Those two were cousins but they married anyway and had kids. Sirius and Regulus parents were also their cousins."

 _What the hell? That's disgusting, I'm not… Am I? My mom can't be my cousin, that's just weird._ "Wait, but you're not inbred? Your father's mother was a black and his father was pure."

Harry shook his head and said "Yeah, but my family comes from Rome. The Potters didn't move to England until my great-great grandfather, Edmund Potter, moved to England with his wife, Clara Cellaveli. That's a pure-blooded Italian family, by the way. And then my father married a muggle-born which decontaminated any trace of the incest that my grandmother brought into the family."

 _Muggleborns don't decontaminate blood, father says that marrying someone of muggle blood would make you and your kids dirty. Hence the term mudblood… Right?_

"Potter!" Draco's snapped out of his thoughts and looks toward the disturbance to find none other than the resident weasel, Ron. He notices that the surrounding Slytherins are all staring at the ginger boy with distaste and even a bit of anger. The blond boy looks at Harry and sees a look of irritation on his friend's face as he angrily but quietly says, "Never approach me like that again, Weasley."

Foolishly undeterred by the danger in the slate-haired boy's tone, Ronald continues with "You embarrassed me in Potions, Potter. My family's honour demands that we duel." The boy's statement was met with a silence that was broken by laughter after Graham Montague, a Slytherin boy in his second year, asks "What honour?"

Ronald Bilius Weasley does not laugh, he doesn't find the slight against his family funny at all but even he is smart enough to not challenge someone that's a whole year ahead of him. "No matter what you slimy snakes think, my demand still stands."

The laughter stops as the group hears the insult and the looks of mirth turn back into expressions of anger. While everyone else is thinking of how they wish to throttle the Gryffindor boy, Draco has just crafted what is in his mind, a genius idea. "You want to duel Harry? He'll duel you." Draco says with a smirk and barely concealed amusement.

Harry looks over to his friend with a raised eyebrow and Draco finishes "Yes, he'll duel you at midnight in the trophy room." Quickly catching on to his friend's plot, Harry nods at the Gryffindor boy and adds "You'll need to bring a second so that they can take your place if you die. Mine is Draco, who's yours?"

Weasley does not catch on to the plan and gives a triumphant smile at Harry accepting the duel. "Yes, I think that I will enjoy taking down two future dark wizards much more than just one. My second will be my friend, Seamus Finnigan."

With another smile and a nod, Ronald turned and went back to the Gryffindor table. "That was bloody brilliant of you, Draco. How many points do you reckon they'll lose?" Harry asked after taking a moment to make sure that he wouldn't start cackling. Draco scans the head table for a moment, thinking of what is most likely before answering "Depends on who finds them. Professor Snape and Filch will want them expelled but McGonagall would just take a huge heap of points from each. Flitwick and Sprout would probably take ten points from each and give them a detention. The old man would more than likely let them off with a warning and then help them back to their common room."

Harry nodded his agreement before looking over to the Gryffindor table to see what was going on over there. Seeing Ron shoveling scrambled eggs into his mouth and noticing specks of the eggs flying out of the boy's mouth while he spoke to a disgusted Dean Thomas, Harry set his fork down and pushed his plate away from himself to indicate that he was done eating.

Noticing his friend's sudden dismissal of the food that both boys loved, Blaise raised an eyebrow in question and Harry gestured to Ron with a nod in response. Finding the red-headed boy, Blaise quickly decides to abandon his meal as well.

Tapping his foot nervously, Ronald Weasley looks at the clock on the wall of the Gryffindor common room. Noticing that it was fifteen minutes until midnight, Ron signals to Seamus that it's time with a nod towards the clock and then towards the door.

Standing up from the couch, the boys quietly sneak to the portrait of the fat lady and whisper the password, "pig snout". The fat lady stays asleep but the frame still moves, allowing the exit of the two boys.

About six minutes later and the young Gryffindor boys find themselves turning the corner that hides the trophy room from their sight. Seeing no one there, the two boys look at each other confusedly before entering the trophy room itself.

The room is filled with different shields and cups and all other types of plaques but there isn't a single Slytherin in sight. Deciding to wait for the other two boys, the lion duo searches the room to see if any of their ancestors have a trophy.

Seeing multiple Prewetts and Weasleys makes the young Weasley very proud but it also distracts the young boy. "Ron! Ron, we have to get out of 'ere," Seamus says whilst tugging on his companion's sleeve. "What? Why would we do that? We should wait for the slimy snakes so that we can beat them."

The now annoyed Irish boy doesn't have to respond when a voice calls out, "Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."

"Filch?!" Ron whispers frantically, before pulling Finnigan around a shelf to hide behind. Seeing the cat sneaking its way toward them, the boys ran and snuck through some suits of armour. "Find those meddling kids, Mrs. Norris! They'll be thoroughly punished for being out of bed so late."

The boys continue to sneak and make their way out of the trophy room, Filch now left behind. Ron and Seamus started running to make sure that they were as far away from Filch as possible before stopping to catch their breath. "Those filthy snakes tricked you!" Seamus exclaimed angrily whilst doubled over and heaving for all that he was worth.

"We'll get them back, I'll make sure of it. Even if I can't, Fred and George are pranking geniuses and will make them wish that they never messed with us," Ron says while shaking his fist in the air in righteous fury. "But for right now, we need to get back to Gryffindor tower. There's nothing that we can do tonight. I should've known that they wouldn't accept a duel with a Gryffindor. Cowardly, snakes are."

Nodding vigorously his agreement, the shorter boy follows his red-headed friend for not twenty seconds before they heard a squeal. Turning around, they see the bane of all Gryffindors, Peeves the Poltergeist. "Please be quiet Peeves, you're going to get us found." The possibility only made the poltergeist laugh madly at the Irish boy in response and joyously say "Wandering around at midnight, ickle firsties? Tut, tut. Tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty!"

"Please, Peeves! We don't want tah get in any trouble," Seamus practically begs. "Should I tell Filch? I think I should. That way you'll learn, it's for your own good." Except Peeves didn't seem to care about what was for their good with the way his eyes seemed to be alive with joy even though he was long dead.

"We don't have time for this! Get out of here," Ron shouted at the poltergeist before trying to hit it. "STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

The boy's eyes widened comically at the bellowing Peeves before they turned back around and sprinted down to the hallway and straight to a dead end. "Over here!" Seamus calls from by a door. The boys try to open the door but it wouldn't budge for it was locked. "This is it, we're done for. We're going to die out here."

"Ahh, move over!" Seamus says with a look on his face that says that he has an idea. Complying quickly, Ron steps off to the side and looks towards the sound of Filch's footsteps. He looks back to Seamus just in time to see the boy charge at the door with his shoulder. Quite predictably, the genuine oak wood door doesn't budge an inch and it barely shakes. Seamus however, slumps onto the floor with a great cry that leads Filch right to them.

"My shoulder! I think that I broke it!" Caretaker Filch hears this and grabs the boy by his uninjured arm and pulled him to his feet. "C'mon lads! Let's go see what Professor McGonagall has to say about your little exploration. Or better yet, maybe Professor Snape is still awake!"

The boys exchange a look of terror that they keep until dragged right into Professor McGonagall's office which happened to be closer as Snape's office was all the way down in the dungeons with his snakes.

"I found these two lurking about the trophy room, Professor. Personally, I believe that you should expel them," Filch says with pride at having, in his opinion, caught two no-good troublemakers. "Finnigan? Weasley?! What in the world were you two doing out so late? And what in the blazes happened to your shoulder?"

The two look at each other before their gazes fall to the floor, certain that they'll get expelled. "Finnigan here thought that it'd be a good idea to run shoulder first into a wooden door," Filch explains and causes Minerva to glare even harder at the Irish Gryffindor for his stupidity. But before she can respond, Filch adds on "A certain door on the third floor that I believe the Headmaster said would lead to a horrible death."

Realising the magnitude of what they had done, the young boy's eyes widened even further as the colour drained from their faces. "WHAT? WHY WERE YOU THERE?"

Opening his mouth to explain, Ron quickly closed it when McGonagall continued on "Trying to prove yourselves brave, weren't you? Trying to impress everyone? Well, no one's going to be impressed when they hear about how you lost fifty points each! Now, explain yourselves!"

Ron was about to explain about how the filthy Slytherins lured them there to get them killed but realised that he couldn't say such a thing. Reason number one was that Harry and Draco hadn't lured them there. Ron himself challenged Harry to the duel, Draco accepted the duel and most likely tipped Filch off that he and Seamus would be there.

By telling Filch that they would be there, the snakes were technically alerting the staff to students possibly getting themselves hurt. Ron can't exactly say that he had challenged the boys to a duel to the death either. They had him trapped. No matter what he said, Gryffindor would come out on the losing side.

Between that know-it-all Granger girl answering questions correctly all of the time, Longbottom being the absolute best at Herbology, Snape taking points from Gryffindors for as little as breathing too loudly, and Potter being a prodigy at Transfiguration, Gryffindor was already behind the others in terms of points. If he lost them any more points, he would be a social outcast. A pariah.

And it was all Potter's and Malfoy's fault. If they had just shown up and thrown some sparks around until they got tired, none of this would've happened. Sparks? Oh yes, sparks. Because they're only first years, so what real damage could they do to each other anyway?

So yes, Ron and Seamus are about to become social outcasts over a few red and green sparks.

"Caretaker Filch, would you please escort Mr. Finnigan to the hospital wing. I will be taking Mr. Weasley back to his common room. I also will need to write a letter to their parents"

"Parents? Please, Professor! You know my mum, she'll kill me!" Ron begs and pleads from the floor on his knees. "Get up, boy! Yes, I do know Molly and I know that she would be greatly disappointed by what you did tonight! Not even the twins have done such a silly and foolish thing! You could've been killed, boy!"

Professor McGonagall ushers the boy out of her office and follows him back to the Gryffindor common room, all the while saying things like "Never in all my years" and "If Charlie were here, he'd give you a right thrashing".

Once arrived, Minerva points towards the boy's dorm and quietly shouts "Up you go! The whole school will know what you did when they see that hourglass tomorrow." Minerva turned when Ron started up the stairs and Ron heard her muttering things like "Shameful" and "Disgraceful".

Yep, he was definitely going to be an outcast after tomorrow. At least Seamus will be one too. That means he won't be alone. It was equally Seamus' fault anyway. The Irish boy should've warned him that it was a trap. Scratch that, it's mostly Seamus fault. How dare he not warn Ron that it was a trap. Any idiot should've known that if a Slytherin is meeting you anywhere, they're most likely either going to kill you, have you killed, or get you sent to Azkaban.

"Alright, it's not my fault at all. Maybe I can convince everyone that it's Seamus' fault," Ron mutters to himself as he climbs into his bed, conveniently forgetting that he begged Seamus to be his second because the boy thought that it was a bad idea.

Laughing to themselves as they enter the great hall for breakfast later that day, Harry and Draco look towards the Gryffindor hourglass to see that the lions have lost 105 points since yesterday's breakfast. The other five points had been from when a seventh year Gryffindor walked around a corner and startled Professor Snape with his "Terribly unfortunate face". It would've been mean had the boy not had a habit of leering at third and fourth-year girls.

Behind Harry and Draco, Daphne wanted to know what the boys had been laughing at all of the way to the great hall because every time that she asked they only said: "You'll see". Noticing that they were looking towards the head table and more specifically, the house hourglasses, Daphne's breath hitched when she saw that Gryffindor is 105 points behind.

The group continued on to their table that is currently filled with confused yet happy Slytherins. As they sat down, the surrounding Slytherins looked at Harry and Draco with mirth filled eyes. "That plan of yours was brilliant, Draco." Marcus Flint says from where he's seated across from Draco and to the left. Draco gives a smirk and says "I know. But it was Harry's idea to make sure that Peeves would be nearby. They would've gotten away had he not thought of that"

Flint looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow and asked: "How did you manage that?" Harry ran a hand through his hair and replied "Peeves hates the Gryffs even more than Professor Snape does. After I promised that he'd get to bust some 'Ickle Gryffindor Firsties' he was on board. I told him to follow them until they stopped running and scream out for Filch."

Marcus started laughing and he was about to reply when he looked towards the entrance of the great hall while smirking evilly. Harry turns his head and sees Ron trudging over to the Gryffindor table and sitting at the end of the table. The Gryffs that were already there glared at him hatefully and pushed their plates away so that they could sit further away from him. Even Seamus seemed to be upset with Weasley.

"Gryffindor definitely won't be winning the house cup this year. Good job, you two." Flint said with a nod before going back to his breakfast.

The Slytherins laughed and joked, enjoying the day and wonderful news and their almost guaranteed win.

The Hufflepuffs have little chance of catching up to Slytherin do to the first year named Zacharias Smith who is quite rude and sarcastic to the staff of Hogwarts. The boy has lost three points a day, every day since the day after the sorting.

The Gryffindors are deep in the negative because of Snape's favorite pass time which happens to be taking points for the smallest of things and now Ron's foolishness had cost them 100 more. Unless one of them saved the entire school or the world, they have no chance of winning now.

The Ravenclaws could have easily overtaken them due to their propensity for answering correctly had it not been for the pair of sixth years caught in a "compromising position" by a group of three second years. Needless to say, they were heavily punished and had to serve their detentions separately.

The Claws could still catch up, though, as they had only lost ten points a piece because it didn't seem fair to punish the whole house when truthfully the second years shouldn't have even been in the Prefects bathroom.

The jolly Slytherins didn't know that they were being watched by two sets of calculating blue eyes "So it seems Gryffindor has lost the cup again, my handsome brother." One of the boys says to the other after sipping his pumpkin juice. "Yes, it does appear so. And it's all little Ronniekins fault."

Nodding his head in agreement, the first boy looks towards the aforementioned Ronniekins with narrowed eyes. "First year here and he's already causing trouble and it wasn't even funny." Solemnly shaking his head in disappointment, the second boy responds "Not even a bit."

The first boy looks at Ronniekins aka Ron Weasley aka his much less attractive brother, before looking at the Slytherin table. "Who do you think set him up, George?"

George Weasley, one-half of the Weasley twins, scans the Slytherin table and says "He went over there yesterday morning and spoke with Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. I think that they did it."

Fred Weasley, or twin one as he sometimes calls himself, strokes his imaginary beard before saying "Yes, I do think that you're correct. This calls for revenge."

George nods his head with an incredibly dastardly smirk on his face, "Yes, let's start with the boy-who-lived." Fred laughs a bit, drawing attention to them. "Tomorrow, my brother. We strike at dawn!"


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Sorry for the late update. I had a very bad experience with the company Jet, and had to deal with that yesterday. Never buy from them! They are absolutely terrible and should be sued. Thanks for all of the follows, favorites, and reviews. The thought that people enjoy my writing is enough to make my day.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters, places, or ideas. That all belongs to JK Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, well… Percy would've had to fight against three Blast Ended Skrewts without a wand.**_

The Hope a Stranger Gives

Chapter 6: Pranks For Nothing

September 9th 1991

Waking up at 6:15 in a cheerful mood, Harry saw that he was the only one awake like usual. Gathering his clothes for the day, Harry made over to the showers with his shampoo and conditioner in hand. The boy-who-lived placed his clothes on the sink and picked his favorite shower stall, divested himself of his pajamas and stepped into the shower.

The young parselmouth turned the water on, closed his eyes and started whistling his favorite song, "Linus and Lucy". The song had been his favorite since the day that the box arrived at his doorstep and changed his life for the better. Every time, Harry catches himself in a particularly good mood, he'll start humming or whistling the tune.

Harry picked up his shampoo and squirted it straight into his hair. He worked the soapy substance into his hair as thoroughly as possible before rinsing it out. The Potter heir did the same with his conditioner before showering and when he was finished, he exited the shower and grabbed his clothes from the sink.

The boy quickly dressed in his attire for the day: a tailored white shirt, emerald green tie, charcoal black vest, charcoal black slacks, a plain black belt, and black dress shoes. Harry looked up into the mirror with a confident smile on his face that quickly disappeared after he saw his hair.

His now forest green hair.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Harry exclaimed as he ran his fingers through his formerly ebony locks. He looked back at his shampoo and conditioner bottles and hurriedly took the caps off of them. Squinting into the bottle, Harry sees that his once white conditioner is now the exact shade of green as his hair.

"Damn it, I was pranked," Harry thought morosely. He put the caps back onto the bottles and quickly walked back into his shared room. The Slytherin opened his trunk and pulled out a black robe that had a hood on it and quickly put it on and threw the hood up as well.

Harry grabbed his book for today's class which happened to be double Transfiguration with the Gryffs. I bet it was a lion that did this, they probably figured out what we did and decided to take revenge.

"Whoever did that to me has no idea who they pranked. I don't go for slapstick, I go for pain," Harry nodded in determination and made his way to the common room to wait for the others. Harry knew that Draco would think it weird for Harry to suddenly want to wear the hoods that he had complained about before, calling them "Unnecessary" and "Broody".

Sitting on the couch, Harry decided to read the chapter that he figured would be read today. They were pretty much only doing theory work at the moment in classes and while Harry knew the theory, he still preferred practical.

After twenty minutes of reading, Harry was interrupted by Daphne and Tracey coming down the stairs leading to the girls dorm. When Daphne saw Harry already in the common room, sitting on the couch read she smiled and said "Good, if I would've had to wait on you again, I would have to kill you just on principle."

Harry closed his book and gave the blonde girl a smile that didn't match his hardened eyes. "Good morning Daphne. Hey Tracey."

While Tracey said "Hey" and sat on the opposite end of the couch (She likes her space), Daphne sat down next to him and responded "Good morning. What are you doing up so early?"

"I'm always up this early. I just wait for the others all of the time," Harry looks towards the stairs of the boy's dorm and misses the look of annoyance that flashes across Daphne's face. "So you're always up this early, but you leave us down here by ourselves?"

Realising what he implied, Harry shakes his head vigorously and says "I mean, if I don't stay to make sure that Blaise and Theo get up, we'd all be late!"

But Daphne wasn't listening to that, she didn't even care about that anymore. All that she could even think about was Harry's green hair that was exposed after he shook his head so hard. "Harry? What happened to your hair?"

Blinking at a mile a minute, Harry quickly threw his hood back onto his head and started "Daph, you can't say a word about this. Seriously. Neither can you, Tracey." Both girls nodded and Harry rolled his eyes and recanted what had happened to the girls.

Tracey seemed to be trying to stop herself from laughing when he was finished but when Harry whipped his head towards her to glare at her and some tendrils of the green hair fell into his face, Tracey couldn't keep from laughing any longer and the dam burst.

Five minutes later and the dam hadn't been fixed. Harry frowns and says "Seriously Tracey, it isn't that funny." The brunette girl only nodded and pointed towards a Slytherin banner hanging over the common room. "Very patriotic of you, Harry."

This statement caused Daphne to start laughing as well, receiving a betrayed look from Harry, and the Potter heir had to keep his mouth shut to refrain from pointing out that Slytherin isn't a country and that his hair and the banner were two completely different shades of green.

Daphne gave Harry an apologetic look as the two girls finally stopped laughing and Hadrian shook his head and said "It doesn't matter, it should wear out soon enough and when I figure out who did it, they're going to get theirs. I can promise you that."

The young group of Slytherins were sitting at their usual spots in the great hall while Harry glumly poked his hotcakes. They had been there for thirty minutes already and Harry had only eaten one of the cakes because he was still upset over his hair.

"Guys, can we go now? Transfiguration is in fifteen minutes," Hadrian asked as he looked between his five friends who were all still eating. Theo frowned slightly and looked at his moody friends and replied: "We've only been here for about thirty minutes and we always leave when there're ten minutes left."

"I just don't feel like eating right now. Besides, what's it matter if we're five minutes early? Rather five minutes early than five minutes late, that's what I always say," Harry finished brightly with a wide smile. Draco looked at the other occupants of the table before narrowing his eyes at his hooded friend and saying "You've never said that."

"Never said that before today is what you mean. For now on that's going to be my motto." The blond Slytherin just shook his head at his friend's antics while pushing his plate away to signal that he was done. After Draco did this, Harry did it as well and they were followed shortly by Theo and Tracey. Blaise gave an almost inaudible sigh while he pushed his plate away and Daphne just shot a look at Harry as she stood, causing the rest of the group to stand.

Walking out of the hall, Harry heard two people whispering furiously before breaking out into giggles. Turning his head towards the sound, Harry saw two identical ginger Gryffindors pointedly not looking at him. They were even whistling while looking away!

Narrowing his eyes, the Potter heir started to wonder why they looked familiar before making a mental note to ask who they were later. If they are the people that pranked me, which I am %99.9 sure they are, they will wish they hadn't or my name isn't Hadrian James Potter!

Harry walked mindlessly to the Transfiguration classroom and walked in with the others. Now that the first week is over, students are allowed to walk into class and wait on the teachers to arrive, wherein the first week they had to wait before being let in.

Harry sat in his usual seat (which was in the middle of the front row) so as to not draw attention to himself. Like always, Draco sat in the seat to his right and Blaise sat on his left. Theo sat in the seat in front of Blaise, Tracey sat in front of Draco, and Daphne sat in front of Harry.

After five minutes of the group whispering to each other, the door behind them opened and in walked Professor McGonagall. She walked past the students, not noticing that they were there because she had been reading the new copy of "Water and Wine" which is a Transfiguration magazine. When she reached her desk at the front of the class, she finally looked up and saw the kids.

"Oh my, you lot are early. Good morning." The teacher's greeting was echoed by the students and a short two minutes later, most of the class showed up as well, with Crabbe and Goyle not even bothering to attend. When Minerva noticed this, she frowned and looked at Daphne and asked, "Where are Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle?"

The young heiress turned in her seat to look around the class before replying "I don't know, professor. I don't remember seeing them at breakfast this morning." At that statement, McGonagall shook her head and replied: "Well the next time you see them, you can inform them that they now have a detention with Filch on Saturday."

Strutting to the front of the class, the professor pulled out a book and had them turn their books to page 102. "Alright, today we will be studying the laws of Transfiguration so that we may move into slightly more difficult transformations throughout the year."

Luckily, Harry made it through more than half of the class without being reprimanded for wearing the hood. Not so luckily, Ron noticed that Harry was wearing the hood and decided to get the boy in trouble with Professor McGonagall as revenge for his detentions.

"Professor McGonagall," Ron called out in question. "Yes, Mr. Weasley? What do you need?" Ron put a confused expression on his face and asked "Are we allowed to wear hoods or hats in class? If I had known that, I would've brought my hat with me."

Professor McGonagall frowned and said, "You know that students aren't allowed to wear hoods or hats in class Mr. Weasley." Ron just blinked and looked towards where Harry was ignoring the exchange and writing notes for the essay explaining each rule and how it applies that they would have to write for homework. "Well, Potter doesn't seem to understand the rule, professor."

At this statement, Harry looked up and started glaring hatefully at the red-headed boy. Professor McGonagall sighed and glanced at her favorite student, "Mr. Potter, would you please take the hood off? It is not allowed in class, I'm afraid."

Harry slowly reached towards his hood before dropping his hands back down to his desk. "I happen to be having a really bad hair day," Harry pleaded while ignoring Daphne and Tracey's snickering. "Regardless of your hair, Mr. Potter, if I allow you to wear a hood then I have to allow everyone to wear one."

With a sigh, the boy-who-lived slowly lowered his hood, revealing his very green hair. At the sight of his hair, several people started laughing loudly, even his friends started snickering quietly. "What happened to your hair, Mr. Potter," Minerva asked even though she had a pretty good idea of what happened due to the countless times people have been pranked by the Gryffindor twin demons.

"Someone put something in my conditioner," Harry said glumly, causing the Gryffs to laugh harder. Harry glared at the laughing lions, deciding that all of them would suffer the consequences of messing with Lord Hadrian Potter.

"Laugh it up, little lions. You can chuckle and chortle, you can snicker and snigger, because I will have the last guffaw. So yes, laugh while you can. Because you won't be laughing soon." No one other than Draco and Blaise heard Harry whisper this but if they had a chill would've gone up their spines. The twins didn't know it, but they had just started a pranking war that would be sung about for centuries to come in the halls of Valhalla.

It didn't take much research to find out that the twins that pranked him were none other than Fred and George Weasley, third-year beaters for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Most importantly, they are the older brothers of Ronald Weasley, who Harry embarrassed and caused to become persona non grata in Gryffindor and the laughing stock of the other three houses.

After figuring out who they were, Harry started watching them so that he could learn about them. He wanted to know their favorite foods, activities, the names of their closest friends, and their favorite hobbies. He also wanted to know what their biggest fears are and even what the miniature Weasley's biggest fear is.

The twins didn't seem to be afraid of anything, so that avenue was quickly closed down but Ronald was deathly scared of spiders. By scared, I mean terrified. Even the sight of a spider's web would cause the youngest Weasley male to go into a fit of panic. While the boy was terrified of spiders, he was petrified by snakes. He views them as evil incarnated much like he views Slytherins.

By cornering Dean Thomas as they left potions the next week, Harry learned that Ronald was also incredibly jealous of his brothers.

His oldest brother, Bill, is a genius at runes and wards and works as a curse breaker in Egypt. The second oldest, Charlie, is a dragon-tamer or something like that in Romania. Percy is a prefect and well on his was to being Head Boy. The twins are well liked by pretty much everyone for their carefree and jovial nature. The boy even manages to be jealous of his little sister as she never has to use hand-me-downs and according to Ron "Gets everything that she wants."

Basically, if you're alive, he's more than likely a bit jealous of you.

Harry started planning pranks that he would employ throughout the rest of September and up to Halloween, where he would end the pranking war for just long enough so that the twins felt safe and then he would strike the whole of Gryffindor house.

Ronald Bilius Weasley is angry. Scratch that, Ron gets angry when the Chudley Cannons lose game after game or when he doesn't get his mandatory four servings of breakfast, right now Ron Weasley is livid. After he had McGonagall have Harry pull his hood down and everyone laughed, he thought that he was in the clear. He thought wrong. The other lions were still mad at him and what's even worse in Ron's opinion is that no one seems to be mad at Seamus anymore.

In Ron's mind, all of this is Harry's and Draco's fault. If they had shown up, maybe Slytherin would've lost the same amount of points. Even if Gryffindor can't win, he'd prefer for the Puffs to win the cup over the Slytherins.

I hate those slimy snakes! When I didn't receive a howler after being caught with Seamus at midnight, thought that I was in the clear. But of course, I wasn't! My mum sent me a letter because she said and I quote "A howler is far too similar to speaking to you and I don't even want to do that."

Ronald couldn't remember his mum ever being so angry as to not even speak to him. She usually just yelled. Very loudly. Honestly, he'd prefer for her to yell at him than not speak to him at all. He's already being ignored by his peers, he doesn't want to be ignored by his family as well. Ginny is the only one that has sent him a letter that didn't say how disappointed in him she was. To be fair, she didn't really talk about him at all in the letter. She only asked about the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter.

That traitorous scum is the worst of the lot. I always thought that he'd be a noble Gryffindor, not a bloody Slytherin! He even has the nerve to be popular and liked in not just his house, but in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff too! At least none of the other Gryffindors speak to him. I know that he's a Dark Lord in training and no one can tell me otherwise. Dark Wizards and Witches are the only people to have ever gone to Slytherin, why would he be any different? And if he isn't a Dark Wizard, he'll be killed by one of the other snakes. They're all backstabbing gits.

Ron remembers hearing of the tale of Merlin and Morgana. Now while Merlin wasn't a particularly "Dark Wizard" the man used spells that at best, were borderline dark. At worst, they were outright illegal. As a boy, Myrddin Emrys was a muggle born that was sorted into Slytherin where he met his future wife and archenemy, Morgan Le Fey aka Morgana.

While at Hogwarts, Merlin and Morgana were inseparable but after they graduated, Merlin decided to travel around Camelot where he met his best friend, Arthur Pendragon. Arthur was a muggle and the crown prince but he still befriended Merlin who he thought to be a peasant.

Sadly, during the time that Merlin was helping Arthur become the next king of Camelot, Morgana had met a man named Mordred. This man was a Dark Lord and turned Morgana to the dark side. She tried to convince Merlin to join them and help take over Camelot from the "filthy muggles" but Merlin knew that they were both very evil and driven crazy with power. They fought for decades before their final battle at Camlann where Modred fatally wounded Artur before being killed by the dying king. At the end of the battle, Merlin was forced to slay the love of his life with his fallen friend's legendary sword, Excalibur.

After the battle, Merlin took to traveling around the world and helping people with the problems too big for them to handle. His final years are undocumented because he disappeared without a trace, there are even some groups that still believe him to be alive somehow.

See? In the end, Merlin was betrayed by a Slytherin. A typical muggle-hating and evil Slytherin.

Ron misunderstood the purpose of the story. He saw the tale as a warning against all Slytherins but in reality, the tale is meant to show how even the nicest of people, for Morgana was described as caring and helping while at Hogwarts, can be tempted to the darkness.

Four hours later (six-thirty in the afternoon) found Ronald leaving the safety of his common room for the great hall. The halls were strangely empty, Ron noticed with no small amount of discomfort. Hisss. "What the? What was that?" Ron asks out loud to no one in particular as he whirls around on the spot.

Hissss! Spinning towards the hissing sound, Ron quickly draws his wand and points it at the deep unnatural shadow enveloping the corner. "Who goes there? Come out, whoever you are!"

While Ron expected one of the slimy snakes to come out with their hands in the air and a smile on their lips, he definitely didn't expect an actual snake to slither out of the shadows, flicking its tongue. This snake wasn't just any snake either, it was the poisonous death adder. One of the deadliest snakes in the world. This particular death adder was about two metres in length and as black as midnight.

"By Merlin's old gym socks! How'd you get in here?" The snake didn't seem to understand English because he didn't stop slithering to respond. Instead, the limbless reptile only hissed louder and started slithering faster, practically chasing the boy.

Turning on his heels, Ron sprinted down the closest hall, opposite the direction of the snake and towards the great hall. "Someone help me! Help me!"

Reaching the grand doors of the great hall, Ron sprinted straight to the head table and up to Headmaster Dumbledore. "Headmaster, help me!" At this point, all conversations stopped as all the occupants of the great hall looked at the panicked Weasley boy. "Whatever is the matter, Mr. Weasley? I do hope that you haven't found yourself in more trouble," Dumbledore says with a small frown on his face.

"I was coming to the hall for dinner when a massive death adder tried to kill me!" After being told exactly where the snake was last seen, Dumbledore stood and with Snape, Flitwick, and Minerva left the great hall in search of the serpent.

Twenty minutes later had the professors walking back into the great hall with annoyed expressions on their faces. The expressions only deepened when they looked towards the Gryffindor table and found Ronald sitting amongst his year mates once again and having Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil tell him how brave he was to have survived the encounter.

Marching straight up to the boy and drawing the attention of the hall with her loud footfalls, McGonagall grabbed the boy by his ear and started for her office. "How do you manage to surprise me with your foolishness time after time? Lying about something as serious as a death adder in a school! Your mother will be hearing of this, I assure you!"

Befuddled, Ron sputtered out "I wasn't lying! It chased me through the halls, I swear!" Shaking her head in anger, Minerva replied "Oh stop it, boy! You've been caught already. You may as well fess up, or else I will add another week to the month of detention that I have added to your sentence!"

"What? That isn't even fair, you can't do that!" If Ron had been looking, he would've seen McGonagall's left eye twitching with rage. "Make that two months, or are you trying to reach three? I can make sure you spend every weekend in detention for the rest of the year if you test me."

Reserved to his fate, Ron let himself be dragged to the Scottish woman's office where he would face his doom.

Back in the great hall, two Slytherin boys were chuckling quietly at the display of the Transfiguration mistress and the weasel. "I still can't believe that you're a parselmouth. You ordering that snake to follow him to the great hall and then leave the castle for the forest was a genius idea," a blond boy with an aristocratic face says to his slate haired friend.

"Nonsense, I had never even heard of that spell that you used. Serpensortia? That was awesome. Combining that with parseltongue is perfect."

"Well, I guess we just work well together, Harry." The green eyed boy smiled and nodded. "That we do, Draco. That we do, indeed."


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: I love writing this story and want to know if you guys think that I should put all seven years into HSG or do seven separate parts. Tell me what you think. Thanks for all of the follows, favorites, and reviews. You guys rock!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters, places, or ideas. That all belongs to JK Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, well… I'd be rich. I'm not rich and therefore I don't own Harry Potter.**_

The Hope a Stranger Gives

Chapter 7: Dungeons and Trolls

October 31st 1991

The smell of pumpkins and cinnamon waft throughout the whole of castle Hogwarts as everyone celebrates what this day means. Every person is celebrating except one. Harry Potter is not celebrating, because Harry Potter is mourning the death of his parents.

Look back to October 31st of 1981 and you'll hear the story of how a baby overcame the power of he-who-must-not-be-named and vanquished a great evil at the cost of losing his parents. On that night, a short while after the destruction of you-know-who, the wizarding world partied harder than a rich frat boy named Brody ever could hope to.

Back to the present though, and we find our young hero currently in charms class with his Slytherin housemates and the Ravenclaws. They are currently trying to cast the levitation spell known as "Wingardium Leviosa". While on any other day, Harry could cast this spell with his eyes closed and using his left hand instead of his right, today Harry finds himself losing concentration.

While the boy has promised himself not to cry over the deaths of his parents, he can not help that he stills feels the weight of the loss, particularly on days like Halloween, Christmas, and his Birthday.

By the end of the class, only Hermione and Daphne had cast the charm correctly much to the shock of Professor Flitwick who knew that Harry was one of the best in his year at charms. While Harry wasn't at Hermione's level in sheer knowledge of the subject and almost always was beat out by Hermione in who could cast the spell first, Harry used the spells that he knew much more creatively than the bookish girl.

"Mr. Potter, could you stay behind please. I would like to speak with you," The half-goblin professor said while the rest of the class was packing their bags for their next class. After telling his friends that he'd meet them at the next class and to let the teacher know that he had to stay behind, Harry walked up to Flitwick's desk.

After two minutes of Flitwick going through the files of his desk, the man stood back up and handed Harry a roll of parchment. Harry eyed the roll quizzically and Flitwick saw the expression and gestured for him to read it.

Unrolling the scroll, Harry is met with neat writing that reads "Lily J. Evans' Charms Mastery". "That is the essay that your mother wrote to complete her mastery. I don't expect you to understand her essay just yet but I wanted to show it to you. She was the greatest student that I've ever had."

As Harry moved to hand it back to the man, Flitwick shook his head morosely and said "While that is one of my prized possessions, I feel as though you should keep it. Call it motivation, I expect your mastery essay on my desk in no later than ten years."

At Harry's smile, Flitwick gestured to the door for Harry to head to his next class. "Go on, lad. Don't want to be late, do you?" Harry smiled once more and started for the door and before he exited he looked over his shoulder and said "Thanks, professor. This means a lot to me."

Professor Flitwick gave a smile and nodded his acceptance before turning back to his desk to prepare for the next class. Harry exited the room and made his way to his final class for the day. Being that it is Halloween, they have less classes than usual. Whereas they normally have four classes each day, today they have only two. While it may not seem like a lot, the class load increases once they get to third year and receive electives.

Reaching the DADA classroom, Harry quietly took his seat and tuned out Quirrell's babbling. While he tried to do something productive with the time, like the metre long essay on the differences between stirring a potion clockwise and counterclockwise, Harry couldn't concentrate at all. In charms, it was due to being depressed, but now it was due to a massive migraine.

Harry felt like his head was being torn open and his brain consumed with the fiery pain. He had grown used to the pain associated with DADA but today the pain was over the top. Harry found himself slightly hunched over his desk and absently massaging his temples to relieve the pain.

Noticing her friend's behaviour, Daphne shot Harry worried looks throughout the class. Harry had told his friends about the pains and they had chalked it up to him being particularly adverse to the smell of garlic.

Right now though, Daphne isn't so sure. The smell of garlic is horrible but it shouldn't cause Harry to have migraines. When Harry rubs his scar, Daphne thinks back to a book that she read on cursed scars. Harry being the only one to have ever survived the killing curse means that no one can know the after effects of the curse.

In Daphne's mind, it couldn't possibly be a coincidence that the headache seems worse than ever on this day.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

"Are you sure that you don't want one of us to stay with you?" Tracey asks Harry for the seventh time since he had revealed that he wouldn't be attending the Halloween feast. "I'm sure, Trace. I'm just going to stay here and finish my Potion essay. Go and have fun, I'll be fine."

With one last tentative look, Harry's friends left the common room and made their way to the great hall. When the portrait closed and he was the only one left in the common room, Harry sat on the couch in front of the fireplace and pulled out his rough draft of the sixty-two centimeter long essay and started rewriting it.

Thirty minutes into revising his essay, Harry heard loud smashing noises coming from outside of the common room. Curious as to what's going on, the young heir marked his page and exited the common room.

As Harry advanced down the corridor, the noise grew and the smell of rot was present. The smell was so indescribable in its sheer disgustingness that there isn't a word bad enough that could due justice to the stench.

Harry turned the final corner and saw a grey-skinned troll standing more than four metres in height and twice as wide as Hagrid in width. The troll had a wooden club that was twice the size of Harry and thrice the weight of him as well.

Startled from seeing the troll, Harry let out a surprised gasp that alerted the troll to his position. Turning around with a roar, the troll raised his club and sprinted towards Harry. With widened eyes, the boy-who-lived drew his wand and aimed at the troll with a shout of "Iter scandalum," the beast tripped and fell.

Not wanting to take chances with the dangerous troll for any longer than he had to, Harry used the "Bombarda" curse on the club and caused it to explode into dozens of sharp splinters. After firing the curse, he quickly crouched down and used his robes to cover his face so that the splinters wouldn't harm him. One exceptionally sharp splinter managed to tear through his cape and cut his left cheek, causing some blood to spill out of the the wound.

Another of the splinters sliced his left leg but Harry didn't think that it was too bad. The slate-haired hero tried to stand back up to incapacitate the troll and then get help but his injured leg gave out and he collapsed to the ground with a scream.

Gently raising his left hand toward the wound, the Potter heir touched the wound and noticed that the splinter cut deeper than he thought and that he would need medical for it. Not knowing any healing spells, Harry was forced to leave the cut as it be and return his attention to the troll. Said troll just so happened to have fully stood up by the end of Hadrian's damage assessment and growled at the sight of his destroyed club.

Marching toward the puny human that dared to not be pummeled by him, the troll reared his massive fist back and drove it straight towards Harry. Luckily though, the emerald-eyed boy dove to his left and out of the way of the fist. Instead of hitting Harry like he wanted to, the troll struck the wall behind the boy. Left fist now stuck in the concrete wall, the troll was forced to use his right hand to try and free the trapped one.

Forcing himself to stand, Harry limped away from the troll and was prepared to leave when he heard the beast growl in rage. 'If I don't finish that troll now, he could get out and hurt someone else. The other first years don't know as many spells as I do and I still got messed up. I need to do something.'

The troll finally freed his hand from the wall and was standing back up when Harry shot a blasting hex at the troll's right knee, forcing the troll to drop once more. The now murderous troll was holding its hands against the stump that used to be it's lower leg and Harry slowly limped towards a large pile of the destroyed wooden club.

Using the beast's distraction to his advantage, Harry cast "Wingardium Leviosa" to levitate all of the splinters and aimed them at the troll's back and head. Quickly transfiguring the pieces of wood into glass and with a cry of "Depulso" the boy banished all of the shards towards the beast.

Harry's aim was true and the shards hit their mark, causing the troll to stop struggling and slump against the wall, dead. Hadrian walked to the opposite wall before collapsing against it in both magical and mental exhaustion, Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath as the weight of killing another living being fell on him.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

Helping himself to a baked potato, Draco looked up when Professor Quirrell rushed into the hall horrified and turban askew, the cowardly man slumped against the table and looked up at Dumbledore. With a gasp the man informed "Troll in the dungeons. Thought you should know."

The man promptly fainted and the whole hall went ballistic. But while everyone else was terrified over the prospect of a troll in the castle, Draco was thinking about how Quirrell hadn't stuttered once when he was supposedly terrified.

The Malfoy heir didn't think on that for long before multiple purple firecrackers exploding drew his attention back to Dumbledore. "Prefects, lead your houses back to their dormitories! Slytherin students will stay in the great hall until this matter has been settled."

Eyes widening in realization, Draco stood and darted over to Professor Snape who was standing with McGonagall. Looking down at his godson, Snape raised an eyebrow at the boy, prompting him to reveal what he was doing.

"Harry is in the dungeon," Draco replied to the unasked question. Snape looked up quickly and scanned the Slytherin table and once he saw that Harry really wasn't in the hall, strode over to the Headmaster.

Going back to his friends, Draco spotted the group of professors, now including an awake Quirrell, hurriedly leaving the hall. "I knew that we should've made him come with us or something. I hope that he's okay," Tracey said worriedly whilst she was staring at the door that the professors left through.

"He'll be fine, Trace. He probably is still in the dorms, we don't even know if he's seen it." Daphne said this but Draco wasn't sure if she was trying to convince Tracey or herself.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

'How did Tom get a troll into the castle without me knowing? The wards never even went off. Harry better be okay, the world needs him to be,' thought Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore as he raced through the twists and turns of the castle to the entrance of the dungeons. With him were his trusted friends and fellow teachers: Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, and Filius Flitwick. Also with him was Quirinus Quirrell, an old friend that is now carrying the spirit form of his old student Tom Riddle.

"Through here," shouted Severus as the greasy potions master turned the final corner with the others all following closely behind him. Upon turning the corner, they were met with a grim sight. The gigantic troll was slumped forward against the wall on the left side of the short hallway with large glass shards protruding from it's back.

The glass shards were dripping in what could only be blood and if one looked at the floor, they would see a puddle of the fluid. The beast was undeniably dead and the killer was just a few feet away. Harry Potter was sitting against the wall on the right side of the hall, parallel to the troll. The boy had his head buried in his hands as if he were ashamed of what he had done.

"Oh my," Quirrell exclaimed when he noticed the blood. The intrusion brought Harry's attention the arrived adults. Flitwick saw the boy's sad expression and asked "Are you okay, Mr. Potter?" Before Harry could reply to that, Minerva asked "Do you require medical attention?" Snape quickly followed up with asking "What happened here?" The traumatized boy looked at the questioning and concerned professors and answered both Flitwick's and McGonagall's questions with a "I'm relatively fine sir but I do need to visit the nurse."

Shakily pushing himself up from the floor and ignoring the proffered hands of help, Harry stood and started for the hospital wing. The professors followed behind the boy and Harry told them what happened and how he ended up killing the troll. By the end of his tale, the headmaster and his four professor's were wowed by the boy's performance.

When Dumbledore praised the boy, he shook his head and said that he just got lucky and that they could've easily had found him dead instead of the troll. Even though the boy had had to kill long before he should've, Albus was proud that Harry was obviously bothered with killing and not indifferent to it. It didn't appear that the boy would be bragging about this incident either. 'Of course, I will let it slip that he was the one to kill the troll when I announce his special service to the school award. That will gain him even more social clout and fans. The boy needs to get used to everyone looking at him like he is more than everyone else.'

Once they arrived at the hospital and Harry was settled in a bed with Madam Pomfrey scanning him, all of the teachers bid farewell and then went back so that they could clean up the troll and its blood. Settling into the hospital bed, Harry tried to relax and nap for a bit but every time that he closed his eyes, he saw the dead troll. Even now in the hospital, Harry could smell the blood that soaked the floor beneath the troll.

'I hope that I never have to kill anything ever again. I don't know if I could handle it,' thought Harry before he downed the dreamless sleep potion that Pomfrey had set down on the table after she noticed his troubles.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

Harry was released the next day (Friday) and after exiting the the hospital, he noticed people staring at him with looks of awe, jealousy, and even affection. Harry didn't know it yet but Dumbledore had indeed announced that he was receiving a SSA, which hadn't been given out since the 40's to a man named Tom Riddle.

The announcement received mixed reactions from different people with most Gryffindor boys becoming jealous of the boy-who-lived. Ravenclaws were intrigued with exactly how he killed a troll and what spells he used while Hufflepuffs were just awed by the fact a first year killed a troll. Slytherins were obviously proud of the young snake because the last person to get one of the awards was a Slytherin as well.

An extra outcome of the announcement was that girls who had crushes on the boy only became even more infatuated with him and some of the girls that didn't like him already were now noticing him. House barriers didn't even affect how the girls saw him.

So it was an annoyed Ron Weasley and Seamus Finnigan that watched their respective crushes, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, swoon over Hadrian Potter's "dreamy eyes" and "gorgeous smile". Ron Weasley was about to come up with a revenge plan when a voice in his head that sounded a lot like himself say "Do you want more detention? Remember what McGonagall said and just leave it alone."

With a sigh, Ron dragged himself up to his dorm room with Seamus trailing behind him. The two boys had made up earlier that month and Ron wasn't even an outcast any more. He did have to apologise to the whole common room before they forgave him, though.

Ron pulled out his potions book and some parchment and asked "Did you finish your essay for Snape?" Seamus looked at Ron and smiled slightly before saying "Yes, I wrote the essay. All sixty-one centimeters of it." Giving a raised eyebrow, Ron shrugged and then went back to finishing his essay for Monday.

He normally would leave homework for the last minute but McGonagall had floo-called his mother over his grades which were horrible and she laid into him about never getting a job. Ron does not want to be poor for all of his life and if he wants to not be poor, the only chance he has is to get some huge ministry job. His father said that they require at least four OWLS for even the most basic of ministry positions.

After the talk that he had with his parents, Ron Weasley is a changed boy. He now thinks before he acts and doesn't blame everything on others. He doesn't know it, but not befriending Harry was the greatest thing that could ever happen to the both of them.

 **HP***Hope a Stranger Gives***HP**

On November 4th of 1991, Gryffindors and Slytherins pour into the Potions classroom. It is the first class of the day and the week due to it being Monday. Their second essay for this class is due today and everyone is anxious because Snape's grading is much harder than any other professor's. As a matter of fact, there are only six kids in their year that consistently get O's in potions and three of them are Slytherins, one is a Hufflepuff and the other two are Ravenclaws.

Two minutes after settling into their seats, Snape struts into the class and straight to his desk. "Get your essays out and have them ready for me to collect." Complying with the professor, everyone pulls out their roll of parchment that they wrote their essay on and place them in front of them.

Striding through the room, Severus quickly collects all of the essays and sits at his desk to mark them. 'As usual Potter, Draco, and Greengrass all receive O's with Nott, Zabini, and Davis receiving E's. Bulstrode got an A and Parkinson got an E. Crabbe and Goyle both receive D's and that was only because he doesn't give Slytherin's T's. Except for those last two and Bulstrode, all of my snakes did great.'

Stacking the Slytherin papers together, Snape stands and hands those out to his students before going back to his desk and watching for their reactions. Harry and Draco share a fist bump under their desk while Greengrass' lips turn slightly up. Zabini and Nott nod in satisfaction while Davis smiles but Crabbe and Goyle don't even check their marks.

Snape didn't even notice Parkinson's or Bulstrode's reactions because he was so incredibly annoyed at the two dunderheads for their indifference. Grabbing for the Gryffindor papers, Snape is surprised once he's finished reading through the first which happened to be Weasley's. 'An O. The boy actually managed an O and I don't think that he even cheated.' Snape put the paper to the side and and continued with the others.

'Brown gets an E, nothing new there. Thomas gets an A because of spelling mistakes, I'll tell him to work on that. Patil gets an A because she is short six centimeters. Now for Finnigan. What? T! I haven't given anyone a T since my first year teaching! This "essay" is eight sentences long! All he did was make each letter seven centimeters tall! The eight sentences aren't even spelt properly and there aren't any spaces between words!'

"Out!" Snape snapped suddenly, startling the children. Once he realised that no one knew what he was talking about, he clarified "Finnigan, get out right now! This is pathetic, I have not given anyone a T since my first year teaching!"

At hearing that he received a T for what he felt was funny, Seamus stood and started for the door. When Snape noticed Crabbe and Goyle snickering, he lost it "Take Crabbe and Goyle with you, Finnigan. I don't want any of the three of you in my class. Got a problem with it and you can complain to the headmaster." 

After he was finished, Snape calmed down and went back to the papers. "Crabbe and Goyle just lost Slytherin five points a piece and Finnigan lost Gryffindor five points as well." Standing, Snape took in the annoyed looks one everyone's faces and decided that if he was going to punish for bad grades, he should award for good ones. No more holding hands or taking points for no reason.

Snape went back to his desk and regraded Lavender's paper to an O.

"Potter, Malfoy, and Greengrass, for scoring an O on the essay, I award each of you five points." Severus walked around the class and handed the Gryffindors their papers until Ron and Lavender were the only ones without theirs. "Weasley and Brown, for scoring an O on the essay, I award both of you five points each."

Every student in the class shared a surprised look because Snape never gives Gryffindor's O's and they all knew that Crabbe and Goyle should've been making T's the whole year. Those three idiots must've angered him a great deal to have him change his grading.

No one knew at that moment, but what Snape did that day by changing his grade system took away a lot of the animosity between the two rival houses. Maybe one day Gryffindors and Slytherins will be able to get along.

As Finnigan is currently getting a swirly from an angry Crabbe and Goyle, it won't be any time soon.


	8. Chapter 8

_**AN: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait for this chapter. The story isn't dead or anything, I've just been ultra busy. As it's been awhile since the last time that I wrote for this story, I apologise in advance if my style has changed. I also feel the need to point out that the characters will be dynamic and will change as the story goes on. Harry in year one will not be the same as Harry in year three, four, etcetera. The same goes for the other characters.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters, places, or ideas. That all belongs to JK Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, I'd be from Yate. I'm from Altamonte Springs, so…**_

The Hope a Stranger Gives

Chapter 8: For Whom The Bell Tolls

December 11th, 1991

 _Third Person P.O.V_

December, the most festive and joyous month of the year. The month that has fourteen religious holidays, that's more than any other month. For most eleven year olds, December means getting that new toy that they've been dying to have or eating their favorite foods that their parents will cook.

For Harry Potter, December usually means having to cook extra because Marge decides to celebrate with Vernon and his lot. It means hearing all of the kids in the neighborhood brag about how many presents that they received. It means having to endure countless insults and jokes from Dudley about how no one will ever love him and that that is reason that he's never gotten a present.

But what does December mean for young Harry Potter when he doesn't have to cook or clean for his barnyard animalesque relatives? What does it mean when Harry has friends but they've all got families to return to but he doesn't so he's forced to stay at Hogwarts for the yule festivities? If you were to ask Harry, he'd say that it's worse.

You see, Harry has never known family so during December he'd only ever wish and imagine that he did have a family that cared for him. But somehow, seeing Daphne and Tracey so excited to go back home and see their parents while also hearing Draco talk about what he and his father will do once he arrives back at Malfoy Manor only served to make Harry jealous.

While he knows that he shouldn't allow himself to envy his friend's lives, Harry can't help but feel morose about his parent's undeserved fate and rage at the deceased dark lord for destroying his life.

As of right now, Harry is currently eating breakfast with his friends in the great hall. Harry, his friends and the other Slytherins around, are all laughing as Blaise regales them with the tale of how he bravely defended his mum and their house from an angry swarm of pixies during the Summer of '89 when a storm of owls flooded the hall.

Harry is surprised when a tawny owl carrying a letter landed in front of him and stuck out it's leg, inviting the boy to take the parcel. Curiously taking the envelope from the now impatient bird, Harry then gave the owl a strip of bacon for its troubles before it quickly flew off.

Cautiously opening the envelope, Harry pulled out a piece of folded parchment from the package and opened up the parchment, which read:

 _Dear Harry,_

 _Hey Harry, sorry that I haven't written to you sooner but I have been occupied with work. I was in Serbia hunting a crazed vampire for a bounty. He was not very cooperative._

 _Anyway, I wanted to see how you were doing now that you're at Hogwarts. What's your favorite classes? Who's your favorite teacher? Who are your friends? How's Gryffindor like these days?_

 _Yeah, I have a lot of questions. It's my hope that I will be able to see you sometime next year. Until then I will continue to write letters and send more pictures of your parents like the one included in the letter._

 _Regards, Remus._

Smiling brightly, Harry put the letter back into its envelope and pulled out the picture inside. The picture showed four fifteen year old boys with the boy in the middle holding a Quidditch trophy.

The other three boys were all smiling happily at the boy that Harry knew to have been his father, James Potter. Standing to the left of James was a slightly messily dressed boy that Harry knew as Remus. To Remus' left was a short and chubby boy with a rat-like appearance that reminded Harry of Dudley's friend, Piers. Harry remembered that this ratty kid's name was Peter Pettigrew. To James right was a boy slightly taller than everyone else with curly black hair and a bright smile on his face. When trying to recall his name, Harry found that he had never been told of it. This boy appeared in all of the pictures with his father, even the wedding pictures, but Remus never told Harry the guy's name.

The last Potter was pulled from his thoughts when he heard his friend, Daphne, ask him if he was sure that he wanted to stay at Hogwarts alone for the holiday. "I'm sure, Daphne. I was just going to study ahead for the whole break anyway." At Harry's explanation, Daphne nodded and went back to eating her breakfast.

After everyone was done with their mail, Blaise continued with his story of "The Siege of Zabini Manor". Tuning the Italian boy out, Harry looked back down at the picture of the four friends. Resolving to find out exactly who the boy was, Harry decided that he would take the most logical course of action possible.

He would speak to McGonagall.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

After the last class of the day, Harry excused himself from the Slytherin common room and made his way towards the Gryffindor tower where McGonagall's office is located. On the way, Harry faced many dirty looks from the gryffindors. Many of them still felt betrayed by the savior that they felt belonged with them in the lion's den.

Ignoring the scathing looks, Harry marched towards the office of the transfiguration mistress. Reaching the door, the green eyed boy paused with his fist in mid air, rethinking his plan. Before the boy could turn around, the door was opened and a surprised McGonagall was standing in the entrance with an eyebrow raised in question to his presence.

"Mr. Potter? Do you need something?" While at first Minerva was annoyed with the spawn of two of her favorite students and later dear friends for not being in her house, his brilliance and natural talent in her class quickly made him one of her favorites of the year.

"Yes, um… may I speak with you in private?" McGonagall nodded and gestured for him to follow her back into her office. Closing the door on his way in, Harry was escorted to her desk where he was offered a seat.

After the both of them sat down, Harry pulled out the picture of his father and his three friends and placed it in the middle of the desk. "I was wondering if you could tell who the boy with the curly black hair is."

Harry noted how the professor obviously paled as she laid her eyes on the mysterious boy. "Where did you get this picture from?" Annoyed with the clear deflection, Harry quickly explained "Remus Lupin sent it to me along with a letter but he didn't explain who that boy was. He is also in wedding photos and appears in more pictures with my dad than anyone else does, including my mother. Professor, who is he?"

Not able to think of a way around answering the persistent boy's question, McGonagall decided that the truth would have to suffice. "That boy is Sirius Black and he was your father's best friend and your godfather. Now, he's in Azkaban, the prison that holds the worst that magical Britain has to offer."

Now thoroughly confused, Harry looked back down at the picture that the professor had placed back down on the desk. "Why is he in Azkaban?" McGonagall looked away from Harry for a moment but looked back after a few moments.

"He's in Azkaban for betraying your parents to you-know-who. Harry, Sirius Black is the reason that your parents are… gone."

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

After the shocking discovery of Sirius Black's identity, Harry silently stood and trudged his way to the exit of McGonagall's office. He opened the door and muttered a quiet "thank you" before departing.

As the door closed, McGonagall grimaced and looked back down at the picture that the boy left behind. She wished that she hadn't had to be the one to tell Harry about his treacherous godfather but it was much too late for that. On the other hand, Minerva was very surprised that Harry was in contact with Remus.

The professor's first instinct was to report her findings to Dumbledore but on further inspection, she decided that she would keep it a secret. The boy had lost enough without having to lose the one last connection that he had to his parents.

With a slight smile, Minerva remembered Dumbledore's annoyance towards the young Potter being sorted to Slytherin instead of Gryffindor. "If he had listened to me and had gave Harry a good home away from the muggles, Harry might be wearing red and gold instead of green and silver."

Opening a drawer in her desk, Minerva placed the picture in the drawer and closed it. Standing up, the professor decided that it was time for her to retire to bed. The professor thought back to that night when she and Dumbledore had left baby Harry on the steps, dooming him to a loveless childhood. She felt the need to make up for her past mistakes and negligence. Maybe she would send a letter to Remus and see if Harry could stay with him for at least part of the summer.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP  
**

Harry felt empty. That was the only word that he could think of to describe his emotions. He had just found out that his father's best friend aka the man trusted to raise him should something happen to his parents, was the one most responsible for their deaths. In Harry's mind, Sirius Black killed his parents and ruined his life, not Voldemort.

Before he even realised that he was there, Harry was muttering the password to the Slytherin common room. He plodded to his room where he placed his wand on the bedside table, shed his robes and quickly laid down and tried to sleep. But sleep wouldn't come easily for the Potter heir for every time that he closed his eyes, he saw the dark eyes of the man that helped kill his parents.

After an hour of tossing and turning in his sheets, Harry decided that the only way that he'd get any sleep was to stun himself. He grabbed his wand from the table where it lay and with a whisper of "stupefy", found the comfort of the dream realm that he sought after.

On the other side of the room, Draco Malfoy noticed his friend's fitful tossing before the boy lost it and stunned himself. Surprised at the display of advanced magic and also of the slight madness that it would take to stun yourself, Draco looked away from his friend and decided that if it was something that he needed to know, he would be told in the morning.

Deciding that he would also get Harry to teach him the stunning spell sometime this year, Draco rolled over and faced the wall. Closing his eyes, Draco followed his friend into the dream world as well.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

In the girls dorms, Daphne and Tracey had an even worse night of sleep than Harry. Not knowledgeable of the stunning spell, the two girls had to deal with Pansy's ramblings of how Draco is finally taking an interest in her and that the two would marry shortly after their seventh year.

While they were used to the girl and her obsession with their friend, it was worse than ever last night because Pansy went on about how beautiful the two's hypothetical children would be. The fact that all of her hopes were spawned because of Draco asking her to pass the pumpkin juice at dinner made the young girl appear even more deluded than usual.

Quickly showering and getting ready for their day, the two girls left the dorm as fast as possible and joined up with their friends in the common room. On the couch, Draco looked up and frowned at the two's exhausted appearance "You two look horrible."

With a fake smile, Tracey sat next to him on the couch and leaned her head against the cushions, "Why thank you, Draco. That is what every girl wants to hear in the morning."

Face reddening in embarrassment, Draco spluttered before Blaise interrupted his attempted apology/explanation. "What he means is that you look like you barely slept last night." Draco nodded at Blaise's interpretation and looked back towards Tracey who sighed and shot a withering glare at Pansy, who was sitting in a corner with Millicent.

"Pansy had us up until twelve in the morning with her incessant babbling about how the two of you were destined for each other and how you were going to marry her after seventh year. You really should stop leading the girl on."

"Lead her on? What have I done to lead her on? I ignore her all the time and don't respond to her love letters." At this Harry looked up at his friend, interested in what he meant. "Love letters?" Draco nodded furiously and looking around to make sure that no one other than the six of them were listening, he whispered "She's been sending me love notes since we were nine. Her father has been trying to convince mine of a marriage contract for years as well."

Laughing at Draco's misfortunate admirer, Tracey whispered back "Never mind all of that, she actually only thinks you two have a chance because of you asking her to pass that pumpkin juice at dinner yesterday."

While the others started laughing, Draco muttered something that sounded like "crazy witch" before he stood up and gestured to the door. "It's about time for breakfast, unless you all want to laugh at me some more?"

Theo clapped him on the shoulder and jovially pointed out "Nonsense, we can laugh at you on the way."

Changing the subject, Draco started talking about quidditch. "Gryffindor has a new seeker, some second year named Cormac McLaggen. The idiot went to try out for keeper, like Wood would take himself off of the team and put that dunce on it. I can't wait to see him fail horribly."

Tracey, also a quidditch fan, stared at Draco curiously until he noticed and snapped "What are you looking at?"

The girl shook her head and then asked "How do you know so much about the Gryffindor team?" The blond boy blushed and muttered something incomprehensible. Tracey rolled her eyes and dramatically cupped her ear before saying "I didn't quite catch that."

"I said that I was spying on them, checking out the competition." Blaise raised an eyebrow and smartly responded "What competition? You're not on the team." At that statement, both Tracey and Draco got offended and went on a rant about how they're all on the team and how Blaise had absolutely no house pride.

By the time they were done with their explanation, the group had reached the great hall. Filling into their seats, Draco looked at Harry and decided that if the boy wasn't going to volunteer to tell him about why he was upset yesterday, he'd have to lead the conversation in that direction.

Subtly looking at Daphne, Draco decided that the best way to get the information would be if he said something that would worry Daphne into asking Harry for him.

"Hey Harry, I saw you use the stunning spell on yourself last night. Could you teach me how to do that?" Before Harry could respond to his best friend, Daphne snapped her head towards Harry and whisper-shouted "You stunned yourself? Are you absolutely barmy?"

Ignoring the short glare that Harry shot his way, Draco mentally gave himself a pat on the back. His mental party was cut short however when he heard Harry whispered short answer of "Sirius Black."

While the dark lord Voldemort was Hitler level of infamous in the wizarding world, he had followers that almost as infamous and some even more so. Bellatrix Lestrange, the Carrow twins, and Sirius Black were the dark lord's most feared followers.

Bellatrix for her ruthlessness and the Carrows for their creative ways to murder people. Sirius Black was infamous for his treachery. He had been the best friend of James Potter, a prominent member of the light side, but he had also been a spy and Voldemort's right hand man.

It was Sirius Black that had allowed Voldemort to murder the Potters and then he went on a rampage and killed thirteen muggles and his other best friend, Peter Pettigrew.

"I couldn't sleep because every time that I closed my eyes, I saw Sirius Black looking right back at me. That bastard was my godfather, did you guys know that?" Shaking their heads in decline, the group offered their silent support for their friend.

"I hope he rots in Azkaban and I hope that the memory of my parents haunt him for the rest of his sorry life, if he even cared about them at all." Clearly done with breakfast, Harry stood up and stated that he was going to study in the library and that he would catch up with them later.

The mood now gloomy, the remaining friends ate their breakfast in silence.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

With an expression of absolute rage on his face, Harry made his way to the library. People lingering in the halls quickly moved out of the boy's way when they noted how his eyes seemed to glow in his fury.

The image of that monster smiling and pretending to be a friend to his father was haunting the young boy. How anyone could spend seven years as someone's best friend and then betray them was simply beyond Harry.

Pushing the door to the library open, the angered boy grabbed a random book off of the shelf and sat at a random table.

After about fifteen minutes of reading about the most dangerous magical creatures in existence, the manticore and basilisk in particular, someone cleared their throat to make their presence known.

Harry looked up, ready to tell the person to go stuff themselves, when he noticed that a pretty brunette girl a year his senior was standing there nervous looking with her lip between her teeth and her eyes anywhere but on his face.

"Do you need something, miss?" The girl looked back towards him and he couldn't help but look into the girls chocolate coloured eyes. "Bell, my name is Katie Bell. I'm from Gryffindor."

Slightly frowning when he indeed noticed the red trimming of her robes, Harry looked at the girl questioningly. "Do you need something, Ms. Bell?"

The girl blushed and seemed to want the floor to swallow her whole, "Uh well, I noticed that you looked upset and I thought that I could help."

"Help? You did notice my robes didn't you? I'm an evil slimy snake, why would a gryff want to help me?" The girl smiled charmingly and sat down across from the boy who lived before explaining that she had a cousin that was a Slytherin and that she is nice so clearly not all snakes are bad.

"Okay, I just found out about Sirius Black. I'm assuming that you know who that is?" The girl nodded meekly before perking up and saying "At least he's in Azkaban and can't hurt anyone else. No one has ever escaped from there so I'd say you're pretty safe from him now."

Harry nodded and looked over the girl again and noted that she seemed like one of those "happy go lucky" people from the television shows Petunia always watch. Harry didn't think people like that existed in the real world but his world had always been a bit darker than most others.

"I just wish that I could've seen the trial so that I could see him face justice." The girl seemed to be in heavy thought for a moment before she shrugged and said "My dad works in the ministry and they keep a memory of each trial for future inspection. I could have my dad find the memory and send you a copy, I'm sure Professor Snape has a pensieve that you could use."

Perking up a bit at the girl's helpfulness, Harry gave thanks to which she smiled and replied "Anytime".

"Well, I've got Charms in five minutes, so I have to get going. See you around Harry." The previously depressed boy smiled back at the girl and said "See you later Katie. Thanks again."

The brunette girl smiled one last time before she left the library. Standing up, Harry looked back down at the book in his hands and saw a sketched image of a basilisk. Noting that he wanted to see one in real life and that there was more chance for him to get struck by lightning, Harry closed the book and put it back on it's correct shelf before leaving the library and heading towards the transfiguration class.

Meeting his friends outside the door, Tracey asked him if he was okay and for once he wasn't lying when he responded "I'm perfectly fine."


	9. Chapter 9

_**AN: Wow, it's been a while. Sorry if anyone had been waiting or anything. Things have been really hectic and stressful for me recently. I'm currently a Junior in High School and have been dealing with things like prepping for the SAT and ACT or trying to think of which University that I am going to attend and what I'll major in. I'll spare you the details but it's not been an easy time. But as they say, the show must go on.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters, places, or ideas. That all belongs to JK Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, Harry would've taken his life more seriously and actually learned an abundance useful curses before fourth year.**_

The Hope a Stranger Gives

Chapter 9: A Snake in Lion's Clothing

December 21st, 1991

In the days after the quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor in which Slytherin won through quite a lot of cheating and through McLaggen spending more time showboating than looking for the snitch, tensions were high between the two houses.

With the Slytherins taunting the Gryffindors at every chance they got and the Weasley twins retaliating in full, the two houses seemed to hate each other even more than usual.

However, this tension did not affect two students named Harry Potter and Katie Bell. The two had hung out at the library everyday after their initial meeting and had become good friends. Katie had decided to stay for the holiday break and had also sent a letter to her father asking about the memory of the trial.

The two were quite confused when they got a letter back from Mr. Bell stating that he couldn't find the memory or any record of the trial ever happening. Mr. Bell told the kids that he would ask Amelia Bones about it the next time that he sees the head of the DMLE.

Katie also happened to be one of the few people that decided to stay at Hogwarts over the holiday break as her father would be swamped with work and she wasn't close enough to her mother to bother going home.

Harry felt a little bad when he realised he was glad that Katie and her mom weren't close and she would be staying with him at the castle over the break. Harry was the only Slytherin first year left in the castle after everyone was allowed to go home for the holidays and none of the second years that he was friendly with had stayed at the school either.

Breakfast found Harry Potter sitting with Katie Bell at the Slytherin table when a pair of familiar ginger twins sat across from them. "Poor little Katie, seduced by the snakes." The one on the left, Fred apparently, had a little mole to the left of his nose that let Harry tell the two apart. He would tell them so they could fix the discrepancy but knowledge is not to be so freely given.

Katie sighed and asked the two what did they want. The one on the right, George, made a fake sad face and looked towards Harry "You see how she treats us? Nevermind all that, we have important information for you."

Raising his eyebrows in question, Harry nodded. "Well, what kind of information do you have?" The twin on the left, Fred, grinned conspiratorially and leaned in close. "The kind that could get all of us in trouble if it gets out that we even know of it."

Katie rolled her eyes and glared at Fred, "Spit it out already." Laughing at the brunette only seemed to annoy the girl further so with an awkward throat clearing noise, George continued. "Remember that night when you killed the troll?" Katie scoffed and added "No, Harry kills monsters on the daily so that just faded into the background. Of course he remembers, get on with the story!"

"Jeez, feisty one here. Anyway, that night that you killed the troll, someone managed to break into that room on the third floor. We have it on good authority that there is a cerberus in that room and it's guarding a trapdoor."

Nodding at George, Fred continued "We thought that you'd want to know. It seemed awfully convenient that while all of the teachers were trying to deal with a troll that somehow managed to get into Hogwarts, someone tried to get into that room. Do with the information as you will."

"Thanks George and you too Fred. I'll investigate further and handle the situation. I'll do something to pay you back later." The twins nodded and went back to Gryffindor table and Katie looked at Harry in shock, wondering how he could possibly handle the situation. "Harry, what are you going to do? You can't be planning on fighting a cerberus! They're dangerous!"

"More dangerous than a troll? Don't worry, if there's a beasty in this castle I know exactly who will be able to guide me to information on it. I need to go back to my dorm to change but I'd like for you to me meet me by the entrance to the grounds in about fifteen minutes."

Nodding quietly, Katie watched as her friend stood from the table and left the great hall with his green edged robes flowing out behind him in a Snape impression. "I hope that he doesn't keep looking for trouble, Merlin knows that it'll find him."

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

After leaving Katie and the great hall, Harry went to his dorm and changed out of his robes, opting instead to wear a red sweater with blue muggle jeans. Harry had seen the gamemaster staring at him and the man wore his heart on his sleeve. Reading him was easier than a picture book and Harry could tell that he was one of the many people sad over his sorting and choice of friends. By showing up in a red sweater and muggle jeans, Harry set himself apart from the stereotypical muggle-hating and blood supremacist Slytherin. It's also the reason that he asked Katie to meet him nearby. As showing up with a Gryffindor girl would do much to ease the man's suspicions of Harry.

Harry felt only slightly bad about using the girl until he rationalized that he gave her a choice to join him and she agreed. He hadn't manipulated her or done anything particularly underhanded to get her to agree to going with him. Harry had no such reservations about manipulating the gamesmaster.

Going into the bathroom, Harry bent over and put his head under the faucet in order to was the Sleekeazy out of his hair and to get it to look as messy as it naturally did. After drying his hair, Harry looked in the mirror to inspect his work and smiled. He looked just like his father.

"Perfect. He'd have been able to say no to Hadrian Potter: the Slytherin and best friends with Draco Malfoy but he won't be able to say no to Harry Potter: first year and spitting image of James Potter."

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

Katie had been waiting twelve minutes when someone tapped her on her right shoulder and she turned around to see Harry standing there wearing muggle clothes and with his hair a mess. "I guess that this is what you would've been like had you joined Gryffindor instead of Slytherin."

Smirking at the second year girl, Harry started towards the hut in which the gamesmaster lived and gestured at his sweater. "That's kind of the point. Hagrid seems to have a bad disposition towards Slytherins so I decided to be a Gryff. At least for this meeting."

Looking at her friend in a new light, Katie saw exactly why he was placed in Slytherin. A Gryffindor would've just charged into the hut and bombard Hagrid with questions until the man cracked under the pressure. A Ravenclaw would scour the library for hours on end until they found the answer themselves. A Hufflepuff would… Katie didn't really know what a Hufflepuff would do in this situation. Maybe just ask the Ravenclaw or Gryffindor for help?

While lost in her thoughts, Katie hadn't realized that they had reached the door to Hagrid's Hut until Harry was knocking on the door. Snapping back to reality, Katie looked up as the door opened and revealed a mammoth of a man standing at least three times taller than she.

"Arry? What are you doin' 'ere?" Katie watched in fascination as Harry flashed a charming and disarming smile, making Hagrid grin in return. "Hi, Mr. Hagrid! I was just coming by to visit as I heard that you were friends with my parents. Is that true?" Harry gave the biggest smile and his eyes spoke of an eagerness that was so adorable that Katie almost believed him herself.

"Tha's right, I was. Good people, yer parents were. Come on in and I'll tell you some stories." Hagrid turned around and went back into the hut and Harry gestured for her to go in, not for a moment dropping the act of the chivalrous Gryffindor.

Harry walked into the hut behind her and once they reached the table, he pulled out a chair for her and pushed it back in once she sat in it. He graciously accepted the offer for tea and rock cakes and seemed to genuinely enjoy them, which she knew to be false because Harry absolutely hated tea and the rock cakes were aptly named.

"Now let me tell you 'bout when I firs' met yer parents."

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

It almost scared her, sitting there for hours and only half listening to stories about Harry's parents and their friends while Harry sits there with a scarily charming smile and an eagerness that seems so real but that she knew to be fake. What did scare her was the way he basically tricked Hagrid into revealing what he wanted to know without the man even knowing that he had.

They were walking back to the castle and for the first time, Katie really saw Harry. He wasn't just another first year or even just another Slytherin. Katie knew the Slytherins in her year and none of them were as manipulative or cunning as Harry had just showed himself to be. Katie never shared people's fear or hate of Slytherins because there never seemed to be a reason to be afraid of them but watching someone be played like a piano and not know it and by a first year at that? That was horrifying.

Harry was dangerous and not just in an obvious way. She could tell that he would be an extraordinarily powerful wizard one day. He arguably already was as he managed to kill a troll by himself which is something that most adult wizards couldn't do and probably wouldn't even attempt to do. But he had yet to reach his majority and was only eleven so that was barely a fraction of his potential.

Looking over at her friend and she saw a cold and calculating look in his eyes and knew that he was planning on getting past that Cerberus. What he would do once past it, she didn't know but she knew that he would get past it.

"How did you do that?" He raised an eyebrow at her in silent question and she damned him for making it harder on her. "Get him to tell you all of that stuff. I highly doubt that he would've told you any of that normally." He shrugged as if to say 'it was easy' and looked forward. After thinking for a bit he turned back towards her and explained, "He wouldn't have told me or anyone that normally. I knew that so I appealed to what he wanted, a perfect Gryffindor. I didn't even really trick him. Not really. I told him of a story that Remus told me in a letter. It was about a time when the four of them found a huge dog in the Forbidden Forest. The dog was hurt and they nursed it back to health and kept it like it was there own. All I did was lament about how I've always wanted a dog, a large dog in specific. He happened to know of a dog that was larger than any other on the planet. That sounds scary, I said. Not really, all you've got to do is play her a bit of music and she'll fall right asleep, she will."

Katie nodded, remembering what was said. Harry had quickly changed the subject after by asking what type of music did his parents like. Hagrid never even realized what he had said, the secrets he let slip.

Katie nodded, this time to herself. Yes, Harry was dangerous and not just in an obvious way. He was dangerously charismatic and extremely manipulative, no matter how he chose to see it. He could turn into a completely different person in the blink of an eye. He could get you to spill secrets without you ever knowing that you did. He was also patient as was shown when he spent hours talking to the man, getting him to let his guard down and then slipping into the topic he wanted and sliding back out. He spent another hour talking and sure enough, the topic of large dogs was completely forgotten by Hagrid but not by Harry.

What Katie didn't know was why he let her see him do what he did. Was he planning something for her? Was he going to use her for his own ends too?

Harry turned and looked at her and she realized that she had been silent for an uncharacteristic amount of time. She flashed a small smile and started talking to him, this time about some of the stories that Hagrid had told. After a while, Katie forgot about her ruminations on Harry being dangerous.

That was perfect for Harry, he knew that she was a bit worried at how he got the information and didn't want her to start seeing him as he truly was. She was his friend and he didn't really want to lose her. Not yet anyway, he still had use of her.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

 _ **Ending Notes: Well that was fun to write. I wanted to show that this Harry is not just going to be more powerful than Canon Harry in a magical way. I believe that Canon Harry was plenty powerful, he just didn't use it. Also, Harry won't be able to just curse all of his problems away. Sometimes, he will need to charm his way out of it. Sometimes, neither will be good enough, but that's not till much later.**_

 _ **Until next time,**_

 _ **FearlessRabbit**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**AN: Sorry to have kept anyone waiting. Summer started for me about two weeks ago, I'll try to write more but E3 may get in the way of that. Let me know what, if any, games that you're excited for. Also, leave a review if you don't mind too terribly? Anyway, onto the story.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters, places, or ideas. That all belongs to JK Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, well… I'd own Harry Potter. I don't.**_

The Hope a Stranger Gives

Chapter 10: Donations, Aspirations, and Ruminations

December 25th, 1991

Waking up early, Harry glanced around the room and for the fourth morning in a row, saw that he was alone. This morning however, he also noticed a large pile of presents at the foot of his bed. Curious, as he had never before received a present from anyone outside of Remus, Harry rose out of bed and went to examine the gifts.

Picking up the one on the top of the pile, a package wrapped in thick brown paper, Harry read a note that was written on the front. "To Harry, from Hagrid." Smiling slightly, Harry gently opened the the parcel and pulled out a hand carved wooden flute. "That was nice of him, that Cerberus won't prove a problem anymore." Briefly, Harry wondered if Hagrid was already awake and if he had seen the book on rare magical creatures that he had bought through owl order and had sent the giant of a man.

Carefully placing the flute on his desk. Harry picked up the next parcel, this one thin and wrapped in gift wrap that Harry remembered from his time with Dursleys. It had been Dudley's sixth birthday and when Dudley finally woke up to open his seventeen presents, he complained that the gift wrap was too boring. Vernon had forced Harry to unwrap all of it while he went out and bought some new more extravagant wrapping. They kept the old wrapping, tossing it into Harry's cupboard never to be seen again. Until now.

Opening the parcel, a note revealed itself along with the fifty pence piece taped to it. With a derisive snort, the annoyed young wizard grabbed his wand and set the note on fire after tossing the pence piece into the trash.

Looking through the rest of his gifts, he received a biography of Salazar Slytherin from Hermione, a signed copy of 'Darkest Darkness' from Theo, a Beginners' Guide to Italian from Blaise, a crate of Crache et miel shampoo and conditioner from Draco, a copy of 'So You Want To Be An Auror' from Susan, a Venomous Tentacula from Neville, a professional wand polishing kit from Daphne, a well worn copy of 'Dark Creatures and How To Handle Them' from Remus, an expertly sewn green and gold scarf from Katie, and a beautifully framed picture of his Slytherin friends with Hermione, Neville, and Susan all smiling and waving at the camera from Tracey.

Smiling widely at the last present, Harry happily placed it on his nightstand as decoration along with the venomous tentacula before cleaning up all of the wrapping. He took a quick look inside of the book from Remus and inhaled slightly when he saw the signature of James Potter written in cursive on the inside. Ghosting his fingers over the signature, Harry wondered what his father would have gotten him had he still been alive.

Almost immediately after thinking this, Harry heard a voice in the back of his head telling him to check where the pile of presents had been. Going back to the foot of his bed, Harry noticed one remaining parcel. Frowning slightly, as he had only sent presents to the people that he had already opened presents from (excluding the Dursleys), Harry picked up the light package and opened it.

Something silver slithered straight out of the package and onto the floor. Picking up what he realised to be cloth of some sort, Harry let it cover his hands. "Woah, now that's freaky," Harry said once he figured out exactly what he was holding. "An invisibility cloak, I should try it on," Harry pulled the cloak over himself and went to look in the mirror. Not seeing anyone there, yet knowing that he was sent dozens of ideas right into Harry's head.

"But who would send something like this?" Harry turned around, cloak still on, and noticed a note on the floor where he had put on the cloak. Walking over to it, Harry slid the cloak off and gently put it onto his bed. He picked the note up and it read:

 _Your father left this in my possession before he died._

 _It is time it was returned to you._

 _Use it well._

 _A Very Merry Christmas to you_

There was no signature on the note or any clue as to who had sent such a precious gift. Harry wished that he knew exactly who had sent it so that he could thank them properly. "Well if I can't say thank you to them, I'll thank them by following their wishes." Harry smiled gleefully at all of the things that he could do with the cloak, "Use it well? Trust me, I will."

Harry picked the cloak back up and folded it to place at the bottom of his trunk, he placed his father's creature book with the rest of his new books and used his wand to shrink the crate of shampoo and conditioner enough so that it could fit in his trunk along with everything else.

Harry pushed his trunk underneath his bed and then stood up and left his dorm room. He looked into the drawer in his nightstand and pulled out his copy of 'The Last Stand' before leaving to the common room. He cast an incendio at the logs in the fireplace and settled himself into a great big chair.

After reading about the legendary Rick Richards for an hour, Harry realised something important. "Between the flute and the cloak, nothing will be able to stop me from finding out what that dog is guarding. Should I wait for my friends is the question."

Staring into the logs, Harry continued to ponder the situation for much of the morning and evening.

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

Ever since Ron Weasley had had his talk with his parents about his grades, he had become a different boy. He actually put effort into his classwork and other assignments and it worked. He was one of the first Gryffindors to get an O from Professor Snape in years. At least that is what he's told from the other lions.

After receiving the O, Ronald became even more studious. Spending hours studying in the library while his dorm mates Seamus and Dean played Wizarding Chess or Exploding Snap, or asking questions in class if he didn't completely understand a topic instead of pretending that he did so that he wouldn't look stupid.

Ron Weasley was now in the top three in his whole year, beat out only by Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. At the thought of Harry, Ronald recalled their first meeting. Ron had been horrified at finding the Boy-Who-Lived reading up on curses but now he realised their usefulness. Especially now that he knew what he wanted to be when he finished school.

Ron had always been jealous of his siblings, it's true. How could he not be? Bill, the best cursebreaker to come out of Britain in centuries. Charlie, the dragon tamer and trainer. Percy, the perfect prefect. The charismatic and hilarious twins, Fred and George. Hell, his sister isn't even at Hogwarts yet but she's the first female Weasley in centuries. Ginny was born special.

But they won't be able to overshadow Ron forever, not after he becomes the greatest Auror in history. That was Ron's goal, his reason for studying so hard. That dream is the motivation that keeps Ron awake studying when he wished that he could sleep.

The greatest auror in the world would know lots of curses at least if only to know how to counter them. Mad-Eye Moody hadn't become so legendary by not knowing his stuff and Mad-Eye was Ron's idol. "If Mad-Eye learned it, then so will I."

That's how we find Ron in the library surrounded by all of the books on curses, jinxes, and hexes that he could find in the unrestricted section, writing down incantations and wand movements for counter curses and the curses themselves.

"I wonder if McGonagall would write me a pass to the restricted section if I told her why I wanted it." Dismissing the thought, Ron went back to his work when he overheard whispering from between the shelves.

"I h-have no i-idea what you're t-t-talking about." Ron frowned slightly but kept writing, only glancing over discreetly to see what was going on without being caught. "Don't play games with me, Quirrell. I can be a dangerous man if you play with me." Pausing in his writing for only a moment, Ron easily recognised Professor Snape's voice and started to pay more attention to what was being discussed.

"I h-honestly don't know how to get p-past the dog, S-severus." _What dog?_ "Right," Snape said in a drawl that was even drawlier than usual. "The warning stands, Quirrell. I hear that there's a curse on the DADA position, don't let it claim you so soon." With that final retort, Snape left the aisle between the bookshelves and swept out of the library, not noticing the red haired boy that had heard the whole thing.

Quirrell stayed for a minute or two more after that, rambling to himself so quietly that Ron couldn't hear a word of what he said. After Quirrell left, Ronald stopped writing and tried to process what happened.

"Snape's obviously threatening Quirrell about something, but what? And what dog were they talking about?" A few more minutes passed before Ronald remembered the corridor that no one was supposed to go to unless they wished for a horrible death. The corridor that he and Seamus had so foolishly ended up on.

"That's it!" Ron exclaimed, causing Madam Pince to shush him even though they were the only ones remaining in there. Blushing a bit, Ron apologised before going back to quietly whispering to himself. "After Filtch caught us and took us to McGonagall, she told us that we could've died. I bet it's this dog that's so dangerous. But what dog could be that dangerous and if it is so dangerous, why is it a school for children? Even if Dumbledore warned against it, with the switching staircases, someone is bound to stumble across it. It must be guarding something. Something important."

Wondering what he should do about the new information or if he should do anything at all, Ron put away most of the books but checked out two. One was a book on curses that he had been studying and the other was a book on magical animals.

For a the smallest of moments, Ron was going to leave that situation alone. He figured that if there was something being guarded and Dumbledore, defeater of the Dark Lord Grindelwald and the only person He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named feared, knew about it, no one would be able to steal it. He had decided to leave it be. That lasted for all of seven seconds as Ron heard a voice in the back of his head that sounded a lot like Bill say "Mad-Eye wouldn't leave it be and you know what? Neither would I."

Determined, Ron continued on his way out of the library, books in hand and a fire in his eyes. He would become the greatest auror, and nothing would stop the greatest auror from protecting what that dog is guarding. "Nothing"

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

The next morning finds Albus Dumbledore sitting in his office, thinking about how the year has gone so far and finding himself doubting some of his decisions. Decisions like placing the Philosopher's Stone at the school or announcing that something deadly was housed on the third floor corridor. "How could I have possibly said no to Nicholas, though? He has done so much for me… And I couldn't possibly not warn them about the corridor. Or could I have not done so without anyone getting hurt?"

Stroking his beard, the old man turned toward his best friend, Fawkes, and looked the phoenix in the eye. "What should I do, old friend?" The phoenix trilled happily and looked towards the spinning gadgets on display in the room. "Harry? Yes, Harry could fight Voldemort but would his friends, Nott and Malfoy, help him? I'm not even certain that they'd let him."

Trilling again, Fawkes flew over to Dumbledore and landed on his shoulder and nudged the man. He then jumped onto the desk and spread his wings as far as he could. "Yes, with a little push, I am sure that his friends could become independent of their parents. It may take a bit less for young Nott if what I've seen is any indication."

A little while ago, Dumbledore had noticed how Nott Sr. barely sent letters to his oldest son. But when the letters do come, the boy always looks morose instead of displaying the joy Draco always showed when his father wrote.

"What of young Draco? He shows no displeasure with his father and he strikes me as very similar. He's practically a clone of the man." The bird tilted it's head to the side and then shook its head in the negative. Fawkes allowed Albus to look directly in his eyes and see what he meant.

Dumbledore was seeing through Fawkes' eyes and viewing a memory in which the familiar flew around Hogwarts one morning before the Christmas break. The phoenix had landed in a tree to watch the students on the grounds when it noticed a rather mixed group of five Slytherins all standing, posing, and smiling happily for a wizarding picture. This wouldn't have been too weird itself if it wasn't for the others that made the group mixed in the first place. Standing and posing right along with the Slytherins were: Susan Bones, a pureblood Hufflepuff and niece of Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE; Neville Longbottom, a pureblood Hufflepuff and one of the last Longbottoms; and Hermione Granger, Ravenclaw. A muggleborn Ravenclaw.

Pulling out of the memory, Dumbledore found himself surprised. "I'm impressed that a Malfoy and a Nott managed to stand next to a muggleborn and smile instead of trying to murder them." Albus said this with just a touch of bitterness, remembering all of the people that the both of them had hurt during the war only to get away with their crimes by claiming imperious.

The phoenix trilled sadly and shook its head. "You're right of course, Fawkes. I shouldn't judge them based on their family's history. But I trusted Sirius once and look at where that got us. Two of my favorite students dead. Pettigrew as well."

The phoenix looked out towards the window and Albus did as well, seeing the sun rise over the beauty of the Forbidden Forest. "Indeed my friend, it is a new day."

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

 _ **Ending Notes: Sorry if this feels kind of short but it just felt right to end it there. The next chapter should be out in two weeks at the latest, maybe before that but I don't want to make any promises.**_

 _ **P.S: Elder Scrolls 6 was just announced! All aboard the hype train and here's to hoping it isn't similar to Fallout 4 in any way at all.**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**AN:You may have noticed that I changed the summary slightly. This is because years 1 and 2 will be very different than the others. Year 3 is where a lot of the story greatly diverges from canon and will be more action oriented. It may have a M rating due to the violence but I am not sure yet. Also Ron is going to play a more important role than I had previously planned.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its associated characters, places, or ideas. That all belongs to JK Rowling. If I owned Harry Potter, well… I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, would I?**_

The Hope a Stranger Gives

Chapter 11: Mr. Pettigrew, I Presume?

December 31st, 1991

After receiving the request from his daughter to look for and send the memory of Sirius Black's trial for her friend Harry Potter to view, William Bell started searching the ministry the first chance that he got. He, like everyone, knew the story of Sirius Black's betrayal of the Potters and he figured that if anyone deserved to see the man's trial, it was Harry.

He assumed that it wouldn't be too hard to find, considering how infamous the man and the story are. That's why he was so surprised to not only fail to find any memory but to fail to find any record that the trial took place at all.

William sent back a letter to his daughter telling her of his findings or more like the lack of finding anything and promised her that he would talk to Madame Bones. When he finally managed to come across Amelia when she wasn't too busy, he asked her if they could speak in her office.

That's how we find William sitting in the most uncomfortable chair in existence in front of the desk of the Head of the DMLE, who sat in what looked to be a much more comfortable and taller chair.

"Sorry about the chair, William. It's mainly to unnerve the recruits." The woman said while gesturing to the hustle and bustle of interns and new aurors trying to find their place outside of her office. "I understand, ma'am. I only wished to speak with you about Sirius Black."

Raising an eyebrow, Amelia wondered what William would possibly want to speak about that madman for. "And why exactly do you wish to speak about Black?" Clearing his throat as he found Amelia to be just slightly intimidating, William clarified "I wanted to speak about his trial. More specifically, the seeming lack of one."

Frowning heavily, Amelia wondered if that was true. Some Death Eaters' trial flew under the radar but they were the grunts and unimportant ones. People like Bellatrix, Dolohov, or Black's trials wouldn't have been ignored. It would've been a media circus.

"Come to think of it, I don't remember there being a trial. I know I would if there was one… I'll look into the matter. Maybe I can find some arrest records or memories of interrogations."

Smiling gratefully, William stood and shook Amelia's hand before leaving the lady's office. After William left, Amelia was left alone with only her thoughts. "No way they would've had a trial for Black and not make a show of it, that would've made the ministry look too good. Especially after the war and all of the leakings of corruption. It would've stemmed the blowback."

Opening her drawer, Amelia pulled out a bottle of Ogden's Finest and took a swig. "I hope William hasn't dragged me into something too major. The year hasn't even started yet."

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

Later that day found a pair of ginger twins waiting for the clock to strike midnight so that they could take the Marauder's Map out for another spin. The minute hand stuck twelve and their little brother Ron bid them goodnight from where he had been sitting on the couch and reading a spellbook.

They watched the boy go up to his dorm before pulling out their greatest treasure and whispering "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" and then watching as the ink flooded the previously blank parchment.

"Look George, apparently we are not the only ones up to no good" Fred said whilst showing pointing towards the dungeons where Harry Potter was exiting the Slytherin dormitories and making his way out of the dungeons.

"Little Potter is about to be turned around though. If he keeps going in this direction, he'll run into Snape." George was right, Harry crossed paths with Snape but weirdly enough, neither stopped. "What the hell! How?" The two sat amazed as Harry continually walked right by patrolling teachers, prefects, and even the head girl without anyone stopping him.

"Maybe he cast a disillusionment charm on himself?" Fred said as they watched the boy's name glide carelessly through the school. George shook his head in the negative and retorted "If he had a disillusionment charm and was moving, they would have seen through it. Wait a moment, he stopped." The two boys looked down at the map and tried to see where the first year was going at this time of night.

George frowned and asked"The restricted section? What's he doing in there?" Fred laughed at his brother and stood up from the table that they had been sitting on, "Studying dark magic, obviously."

They both laughed at the silly thought before George smirked mischievously and suggested that they go and find out what he was doing by themselves. "I like the way you think Georgie. What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

After stepping over the rope that disconnected the restricted section from the other books, Harry searched through the library for books on magical manipulation and mastery hoping that he could learn to advance his minuscule knowledge of wandless magic.

He knew that he was capable of it due to him having apparated using only sheer willpower but he hoped to get a deeper understanding of the art and possibly learn telekinesis. While looking for the book, he saw a book titled 'Magick Moste Evile' and felt the urge to pick it up as he felt like he'd seen it before.

"Have I seen this before?" Harry pulled the book off of the shelf and saw an image of reading the book. "Page 132" a strange melodic voice whispered in the back of Harry's head. Harry quickly turned to and read through the page multiple times before closing the book and putting it away for later perusal.

Continuing on with his business, Harry found what he was looking for in a book titled 'The Forgotten Talent: Magical Mastery'. He grabbed the book and started leaving the library when the other book popped back into his head.

"Why did I feel the need to read that book? That particular page? And what the hell is a horcrux?"

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

The pair of twins had used their map to follow Harry shortly after he left the library and were following him back to the dungeons. Well they were staring at the map and following his name back to the dungeons, but that's beside the point.

They followed him all of the way to the slytherin dorms and waited for him to speak the password, they tried to hear what the password was but couldn't get close enough without risking him seeing through their disillusionment charms. After Potter walked into the common room, the twins quickly went in as well so as to not miss the opportunity to question the boy.

"Did you really think I hadn't noticed you two following me?" A disembodied voice said as the portrait door swung shut behind them. "Take off the disillusion charms now and reveal yourself before things get hectic."

The pair laughed quietly and canceled the charms and held their hands up in mock surrender. "Oh please Dark Lord Potter, don't hurt us. We are but loyal servants," The twins said simultaneously.

"Fred and George? What the hell are you two doing down here?" Harry took off his cloak and started for his room, the twins following behind him. "We noticed that you were leaving the dorm and walked right past Snape and a whole lot of other teachers and prefects and wanted to know how. We see now that you have an invisibility cloak."

Harry nodded while putting the cloak and book in his trunk and making sure that they didn't see the book that he stole out of the library. "How did you know that I had even left my dorm?"

At this, the twins grinned and showed off the Marauder's Map. "This shows everyone in the castle and where they are at at all times." George quickly clarified, "Only as long as that part of the castle is on the map, I found a cupboard on the fifth floor that wasn't on here."

Harry beckoned for the boys to follow him to the common room and asked them to show him how it worked. They were all sitting around a table and Fred laid the parchment onto the wood. "First you have to say the activation code, I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Once again, ink flooded onto the parchment and turned it into a map. "Woah," Harry exclaimed as he looked over the whole map and quickly found the gryffindor dorms. Scanning the girls dorm, he saw Katie Bell seemingly asleep in her bed with a girl by the name of Joanna Robbins padding back from the bathroom and back into bed.

He looked over to the boy dorms and saw Ronald Weasley pacing back and forth in the first year boys dorm. He also caught a slight glimpse of another name before Fred spoke "Mischief Managed." Before he could register what he saw, all of the ink left the map and turned it back into a blank parchment.

"Wait!" The twins looked up at Harry in confusion as the green-eyed boy gestured wildy at the map. "Isn't your brother the only first year gryffindor that stayed?" The twins nodded slowly and confusedly before Harry clarified with "I saw two names in the boys dorm."

Worried about their brother, Fred quickly activated the map again and all three of them looked at the boys dorm, trying to find the other name. "Peter Pettigrew," George intoned aloud. It took a short while before the boys realized exactly who was supposedly in the dorms. "Maybe it's wrong?" Fred spoke quietly before George quickly fixed him with a look and he amended "Yeah I know, it's never wrong. But how else could he be in there? He's dead isn't he. Black killed him."

Harry was silent for awhile as he began to piece things together. He had heard the tale of that night, Sirius going on a rampage and then blowing Peter up and leaving naught but a finger. Harry had never heard of a spell that would do something like that but just assumed that a member of the House of Black would know rare dark magic. Then there was how there was no record of a trial or anything like that. Now, Pettigrew was alive and in Hogwarts and Sirius was rotting away in some cell in Azkaban.

"Pettigrew framed him," Harry concluded aloud causing the twins to look at him. Nodding resolutely, Harty continued "It makes sense in a way. They only found a finger, they didn't find a body or guts that side of the street yet he was supposedly blown up. Sirius didn't have a trial… they probably had no evidence and this would've been after Voldemort disappeared. They would have wanted this to be over. So they just throw Sirius in jail and leave it at that."

George frowned at the conclusion that the younger boy had come to and asked "So no one asked any questions about this?" Harry shook his head negatively and raised an eyebrow at the twin "Would you have? Sirius is a Black, first cousins with Bellatrix Lestrange. He comes from a long line of dark wizards. Who would question him having secretly been one too all along?"

They all sat silently for a bit before Fred asked what they should do. "Nothing tonight. I can't go up there as I'm a slytherin and he'd probably freak if he saw me… Wait a minute. How exactly is he in there? No way Ron wouldn't see a grown man walking around the room with him."

The twins seemed to brainstorm on what Harry had said before snapping in unison and replying "Scabbers!" Harry looked at the two in confusion and asked "Who's Scabbers?" The twins quickly explained to Harry about their family pet and when they were done, Harry's mouth was agape at the tale.

"You guys found a garden rat and took him in and haven't questioned him being ten years old?" Fred shrugged and explained that they started to believe that the rat was magical somehow. "Yeah, you're right. He's a damn animagus like McGonagall."

Shaking his head, Harry told the two that he would go up to Ron tomorrow and try to buy the rat from him. "We're not sure if he'll do that, Harry. Scabbers is a family pet after all and no matter how much Ron calls him useless, we're sure he wouldn't give him up for anything."

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

The next morning found Ronald up bright and early sitting at the breakfast table and reading about the nundu when Harry Potter walked up the table and sat across from him. Glancing up from the drawn depiction, Ron snapped the book shut and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Hello Ron. I think that I'll just be quick about this as we don't particularly like each other. I want your rat." Ron crinkled his eyebrows in confusion, wondering why anyone would need a rat. Suddenly, he looked Harry in the eyes and replied "I'm not giving you Scabbers just so you can feed him to some snake that you found."

Harry laughed before calming down and shaking his head, "I don't want him for that. It's for something else. Come on, I'll do you a favor or get you something that you want." At that statement, a calculating look formed on Ron's face as he thought about what he could ask for.

 _There are some books that I can't find in the unrestricted section of the library and that i'd never be able to buy. And it is just a rat…_ "Fine, you can have him. But I need you to buy me these and have them sent to me by the end of next week," Ron said before pulling out a sheet of parchment and writing down the titles of three rather rare and expensive DADA books. Harry glanced at the titles and grimaced once he recognised the lot and knew that it would cost at least forty galleons to buy all of them.

"Okay Weasley, I'll order them tonight but I need you to keep up appearances with Scabbers and not let him know that anything is out of the ordinary. When the books are delivered to you, you'll put him in a cage and bring him to me. Deal?"

Harry stuck out a hand which Ron shook immediately and echoed "Deal." Harry left the seat after that and went back to his seat near Katie Bell. Ron opened his book again and tried to keep reading but he couldn't as he was too excited for the books to arrive. Those books were very expensive and his parents would've never bought them for him, not that he would've been selfish enough to ask them to. He barely thought about giving Scabbers up for it. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Trading a garden rat for basically forty galleons, who would've thunk it?

 **HP***Hope That a Stranger Gives***HP**

 _ **AN: I hope that you enjoyed this. I set up some future plot points in this chapter and started trying close one. If you haven't figured it out yet, Year 3 is going to be where this story almost completely moves away from canon. I already have the basic plot for years 3 and 4 down in my head.**_

 _ **P.S: After I'm finished with Year 1, I'm going to take a short break from writing so that I can reread Chamber of Secrets. It shouldn't take too long as that's one of the shorter books in the series. The shortest if I recall correctly.**_


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